Free Recycling Through The Mail

The U.S. Postal Service has launched a pilot program providing customers with an eco-friendly way to dispose of outdated items.

Postage-free envelopes are available at the test offices for you to send in old cell phones, personal data assistants, MP3 players, ink jet cartridges and other small electronic items.

The tests are under way in California, Chicago, Washington, D.C., northern Virginia and Baltimore. The USPS hopes to take this program nation-wide in the fall.

Clover Technologies Group pays the postage and then remanufactures and remarkets the items. If the item cannot be refurbished and resold, its component parts are reused to refurbish other items, or the parts are broken down further and the materials are recycled.

Three R Thursday: A Sticky Situation

Dear Mr. Grocer,

I'm sure you have a logical reason for putting multiple stickers on my organic produce. You probably think it's okay because the stickers are made with food grade gums. You may not have considered the fact that when a toddler asks for an apple, they don't have the patience to wait while their mother peels and scrubs the stickiness off of their healthy organic apple.

You probably discovered you were losing money at the check out counter because the checkers couldn't tell the difference between organic and conventional produce. For some reason the small sticker wasn't sufficient, so a really big one needed to be added.

I have a solution. Save the money you are spending on these stickers. Save the time it takes for one of your employees to stick them on everything organic. With the money you save, you can charge the same amount for organic and conventional produce.

After all, don't we all deserve to eat produce grown without the use of toxic pesticides.

Thank you for your consideration.

WFMW: Introducing Siblings

I was a little concerned how the first introduction at the hospital would go between Davis, Meg and Kale.

To make it as smooth as possible, Kale went shopping! Ok, not really, Kale's mommy went shopping, but he was with me!

I put together a themed-bag for each of them - Davis' bag was full of pirate stuff and Meg's was full of princess stuff. Of course, they loved their bags and thought Kale was the coolest little brother ever. Davis couldn't get over how Kale knew exactly what he liked!



Check out other Works for Me Wednesdays here.

Happy Birthday, Meg!

Dear Meg,

My sweet little girl you are 2 years old now. You have grown up so much. You spent the first year of your life attached to me, and now you are so confident and happy in the world. I love to watch you play with your big brother, and I love the way you love on your baby brother.

You are so smart - you have so many words and communicate with us so well. You have a very special place in our family. You are lucky to have both a big and little brother. I know at times you may be annoyed by the "boys" in your life, but I promise as you get older you will enjoy having them around.

You and I are outnumbered now. We have to stick together. You bring so much happiness to my day. I thank you for that, and I love you very much.

YoBaby Yogurt & EWG

Stonyfield Farm will donate $1 for every click to the Environmental Working Group to help protect you and your family from harmful chemicals in food.

You can get a free downloadable guide to pesticides in produce. The guide is wallet-size and lists the 12 fruits and veggies with the most and least amount of pesticides, so you’ll know which ones to buy organic and what is okay when organic isn’t available.

Why the Name Kale?

Bob and I wanted to honor our beautiful daughters, Eloise Andrews and Kathryn Lee. We played around with their initials and came up with the name KALE.

We see each of the girls in our children. It is special for us to be able to use their names in some small way.

Buy Nothing Challenge

No, this isn't an April Fool's Joke.

I've been spending too much money. I'd already decided to cut back in April, but the inspiring Crunchy Chicken declared April a "Buy Nothing Challenge" month. The challenge is to only spend money on essentials.

Basically, this means none of the following:

• No new clothes
  
• No new gadgets
  
• No new furniture or housewares
  
• No salon services
  
• No makeup
  
• No tools

Wish me luck. If you decide you want to give it a try, click on over and visit the Crunchy Chicken.