We all know how bad plastic grocery bags are for the environment. Have you ever been driving down the road and seen a little “ghost” floating up from everyone’s tires as they drive by it? I’ve seen that several times in my city, and it’s just sad! I hate seeing garbage out there, especially these plastic bags, when there are so many ways to reuse them, and they are recyclable! Did you know that only 1-4 percent of all of these plastic bags are actually being recycled? That’s not a very good statistic. 

In California, there’s actually a state law requiring grocery stores to offer free recycling opportunities for these plastic bags. The stores I go to usually have a large green or white bin just inside the doors for people to drop off their plastic bags. The sad thing is, they’re never full. I’ve seen so many ways to reuse these bags, that maybe people are starting to figure out new ways to reuse them at least a couple of times before they end up in the garbage. That would be ideal. 

Some of the ways I’ve seen to reuse these bags are pretty neat! Here are a few ideas that I’ve come across, just by googling “recycle plastic grocery bag”. 

Betterbudgeting.com has a list of 22 ways to reuse bags, with anything from covering your muddy shoes with them while you come into the house, to folding them up and donating them to local shelters, or food banks. There were even a few crafty ideas for them, like making them into door mats for your outside doors… 

Instructables.com showed you how to make Loons from plastic bags, wire hangers, and newspaper. Even LifeHacker got into the ideas and posted a few as well. They noted using them as trash can liners instead of buying other plastic bags, crunching them up and using them for packing rather than using styrofoam peanuts, newspaper or bubble wrap. I’ve done this and it works quite well! 

The State of California has a page dedicated to informing, and suggesting ways to reuse, or even reduce our usage of these bags! 

I personally have started reusing these plastic bags to make stronger, reusable plastic shopping bags. It’s a great way to reuse them several times over, and you don’t have to worry about the bag tearing! It’s actually quite strong! I’ve gotten some great comments & compliments when I use these bags at the grocery store! Not to mention, it keeps at least 60 bags out of the landfill! 

If you want to avoid using the plastic bags altogether, then you can use basically any bag you want. I have seen different stores marketing their own bags. Trader Joe’s sells several bags of different sizes, colors, and materials. I have quite a few of their shopping bags, just because they’re so cute! I must say though, as far as holding large amounts of items, IKEA has the best bag! They have a large blue bag that can hold just about anything! I even use it when we make our Costco trips! It’s better than bringing home a bunch of big cardboard boxes. 

Well, I’ve given you a few ideas, now I want to see yours!!! What do you do with your plastic grocery bags? Do you even use them? or do you use a canvas bag?

I’ve been doing a lot of reading up on the different products I use, and what’s in them! Most beauty and care products have a whole slew of unpronounceable ingredients. You use these products on your hair in hopes of shinier, thicker, curlier, straighter hair with less dandruff flakes, but have you ever wondered if all of these oddly named chemicals are really necessary? These chemicals are being used in your hair, being absorbed by your scalp, and what are they really doing? Don’t forget they’re also washing down the drain and into the water supply. 

You do need to know that regular shampoos are not going to kill you. They’re just full of unnecessary chemicals that you really don’t need to be exposed to. For instance, many products that have the yummy scents that we love, like Raspberry, Strawberry, etc contain something called pthalates. Pthalates are hormone disrupting chemicals that can be absorbed through your skin, and studies have found that pthalates interfere with reproductive development in babies. There are also other hormone disruptive chemicals in shampoos that are preservatives, such as parabens, and chemicals that emit formaldehyde. One thing that I’ve found interesting is that shampoos also contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate or Sodium Laureth Sulfate, which is a common detergent that can increase the skin’s permeability, allowing other chemicals to enter your bloodstream. It is a skin irritant that has been found to aggravate existing skin conditions, such as eczema. I’ve had dandruff in the past, and it was recommended that I use Tea Tree Oil Shampoo. Knowing nothing, I bought a HUGE bottle of Tea Tree Oil Shampoo from Paul Mitchell. It didn’t seem to help my head very much, if at all, and I couldn’t figure it out. After this research, I actually looked at the ingredients… It has SLS in it. Well, that could explain why nothing was changing.. 

How different are the plant based shampoos from the “regular” shampoos? Well, usually, they don’t have as many ingredients in them! You’ll want to definitely check the ingredients list, and the less long weird names, the better. You also want to try to avoid shampoos with dyes in them! Dyes can very often trigger allergic reactions, and that certainly won’t make your hair any more manageable.

How do you know if the shampoo you are using is a “good” shampoo? Read the label! Don’t let gimmick words like “Herbal”, “Organic” or “Natural” mislead you. You probably want to look for more reputable labels, like “USDA Certified Organic” which will contain at least 95% organic ingredients. Whole Foods Market has a Premium Body Care label that they affix to products that are primarily plant based. This usually ensures that is it free of over 250 chemicals that can pose health hazards of one sort or another. 

There is also an Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards certification that requires 85%  organic ingredients in personal care products. This certification is going to be more widely seen in the personal care products in the near future. 

Remember, no label, sticker, or tag line is going to be as effective as your eyes checking out the ingredients list on those products! Make sure you read up on the different chemicals, and create a cheat sheet if you think it’ll help you! 

More information can be found at Green Living Ideas, and at TreeHugger.com!

Last night, we were in the city of Davis, Ca and  This time we had my parents with us, and we wanted to take them out to a nice dinner. Hubby took out his iPhone and looked up restaurants in the area, and Strings Italian Cafe came up on the list. We’ve been to the Sacramento/Natomas restaurant several times now, and each time have had a great experience. My parents had never been there, so we figured it would be a nice place to stop for dinner. We knew there were menu items the girls would like for dinner, and I love the menu here in Sacramento so we really didn’t give it a second thought.

We walked in and were actually surprised at how small the restaurant was. They set up a couple of tables for us and seated us within 5 minutes. When we sat down, my dad noticed their little salad plates were dirty, and set them aside. Our server came to take our drink orders and Dad passed her the dirty plates. We asked for a couple of booster chairs for the girls, and one of the girls brought them to us. I was a little grossed out by the cleanliness of their booster chairs! They were sticky and grimy. I seriously didn’t want my girls to sit in them but I didn’t know what else to do! They didn’t have any more.. Luckily the girls were wearing long enough shorts that they didn’t really touch the chairs.

They came back with our drinks and took our meal order. A few minutes later, they brought a family bowl of salad to us. It was pretty good, until my mom found a large piece of plastic in her salad. She stopped eating her salad after that. When our server came to give us our meals, my mom told her about the plastic, and she came back with an offer, if she wanted, of a free dessert. I was a little disappointed in my meal. It didn’t look like what I remembered ordering the first time we went to Strings. It also didn’t taste like what I remembered. It was really greasy, and hardly had any artichoke in it. I was very disappointed.

After our meal, we were ready to leave. My mom didn’t order any dessert. We asked for the check, and noticed that we were charged full price for everything. We had hoped that since she didn’t take advantage of the dessert offer that they’d at least give her a free meal or something, but no.. We got our check and were charged full price for everything. It was a bit of a disappointment. It was almost 9pm though, and all we could think about was getting the girls home for bath and bed. 

All in all, it was a pretty disappointing dinner experience. I don’t often venture over to Davis, but I do know that the next time we’re in the area around dinner time, we’ll either check out Dos Coyotes, or make the drive back home for dinner.. 

This week’s Green Monday suggestions have to do with keeping your house cooler this summer! The heat is rising, and well, so are the electricity bills. Here are a few tips and tricks that will help you to stay cool, save money, and save the planet all at once! 

1. Don’t Be Stuffy! The first tip is very effective! Let in the fresh air from outside! If you open up your windows at night, when the air is cooler and close them and draw the curtains/blinds in the day when the sun is out, you can really reduce your air conditioner usage! Also consider convective cooling. If you have a two story home, you can crack the lower floor’s windows by a couple of inches, and open the upper floor windows placing portable or window mounted fans in your windows facing outward. This will create a larger draft and remove the rising hot air, while drawing in the cooler air down below. 

2. How about a little privacy! Next, close your window shades! If you don’t have curtains or blinds on your windows, you should! If you shut the curtains or blinds on the sunny side of the house, you can keep your home significantly cooler. Look for blinds with highly reflective, lighter colors, and wider slats. The wider they are, the better they work. Some window treatments even offer some levels of insulation. When closing your blinds, turn them upwards (so you have to look down to see the light) to reflect more light back. 

3. Make more oxygen!  Use exterior shading! You can do anything from installing awnings, window shutters, or some sort of overhang, but not everyone has the money to buy them, or the time to build them. You can use window boxes and planters to reduce the amount of sunlight that enters your windows. Not only do they cool you down, but they look super pretty too! Don’t forget to water them! You can also, if you have the room, plant some (deciduous) trees or shrubs on the south, east and west sides of your house will keep it cool in the summer and let in sun and warmth in the winter… 

4. More expensive, but it works!  If you’re looking to replace your windows, you may want to consider looking for windows that have been certified by Energy Star. Not quite going that route? Check into “Low-e” film for your current windows. You can coat the interiors of your east and west side windows to stay cool. Look for a lower heat gain rating for the coolest windows. 

5. Splish Splash!! Get a pool!!! I know, not everyone has the room or money for a “built-in” pool. I just got my girls a small snapset pool from Walmart! It only cost us $18, and we can enjoy the cool water, any time we want! When I empty the pool, the water goes straight to the planters, so nothing is wasted! 

Here are just a few ideas for you. I hope you can stay cool this summer even after the high temps set in… 

Hubby and I were preparing for a night out to dinner and a show in celebration of our 10 Year Wedding Anniversary. I thought it would be a fun idea to rent a limousine for the evening. It would keep us from having to worry about finding and paying for parking, who gets to drink wine at dinner, and who doesn’t, and then walking back to the car after the show, in the dark..YIKES! 

I called several Limo companies in the Sacramento area, and finally came across Shooting Star Limousine. I figured this would be the last call I made and then I’d decide over all of the places I had called. I got an answer right away, and asked about prices. Their prices were comparable to the other companies around town, but, he also told me about a special package they had for Anniversaries! We’d get the red carpet treatment, and an open bar in the limo. Yes.. OPEN BAR! LOL. He also told me that although they’d love to have the hourly rate for the entire evening, he could Pick us up, and drop us off, and not just wait there for us… so we’d only have to pay for the time we were actually using the limo. That was a significant savings for us. After getting a price quote, I asked him for his name, and found out I was speaking to Tracy, the owner of the company… I also found out that he is the father of twin girls, just a few months younger than my girls… Well, see, now I knew I had to call him back! I did call Tracy back after a couple of weeks, and reserved our Limo for our Anniversary. I was super excited. Now I just waited. 

Three weeks later, I called him on the day before just to confirm everything, and ask him for a huge favor. I asked him if it was possible for him to arrive at my house about 15 minutes early because I wanted to try and let the girls see the Limo, and maybe go for a quick ride.. Just around the block. He said it wouldn’t be any problem. WOOHOO!

On Saturday, our Limo arrived just before 545pm. We were just about finished getting ready, and I got the girls down, and dressed up a little bit. We walked outside, and the girls were in awe. Our driver introduced himself. It was Tracy! Too cool! We got the best driver out there! He opened the door for us, and the girls climbed in. We did get to go around the block with the girls, and they loved it… They were our little Divas… 

We came back to the house, and dropped the girls off to Grandma & Grandpa. Tracy came back to explain where all the controls were, and where all the drinks were… It was amazing… The Limo was stocked with all kinds of drinks. Tracy got us safely to our dinner destination, set out the red carpet, and opened the door for us. We ran inside and had our dinner. When we walked out, he was there waiting for us. We were running late to the show because of our dinner experience, but he got us there as quickly as possible. He dropped us off right outside the doors… We ran into the theatre… 

The show was absolutely outstanding, and needless to say, Tracy was there, waiting for us, red carpet out. He asked us how we liked the show as he opened the door for us… We got on the road back to the house, and shared a bottle of champagne. The night had ended too soon. 

When we got back to the house, Tracy gave us our total, which was an outstanding price for the evening. We thanked him for taking us everywhere. It was an awesome experience!

Tracy & Shooting Star Limousine are excellent. He was super courteous, and always smiling. The Limo was clean, and well stocked. The wine & champagne he had in there were very good. He was always on time, actually early for every pick up, so we were never waiting for him. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience! I know that if we need a Limo in the future, we’ll definitely be calling him! I highly recommend contacting Shooting Star Limousine for any special occasions you have coming up! He has excellent wedding, anniversary and even Birthday packages! 

Thank you Tracy & Shooting Star Limousine for making our 10 year anniversary especially memorable! You are the best! 

Ok, so I’ve been complaining and complaining about how cracked, and calloused, and itchy my feet have become from all the dry skin… I’ve seriously been trying to avoid having to pay for a pedicure, especially since my $30 pedicure could give me about a 1/4 tank of gas these days… UGH.. That’s a whole other post though… Anyway, Hubby was out one day and saw the Ped Egg for sale at Fry’s, and grabbed it, hoping it would help me out.. I looked at it and was quite skeptical. I opened up the instructions, and read about how to use it. My feet had to be completely dry… so no soak in the foot spa..

I started using it on my heels since they were the most dry and damaged. It did seem like the dead skin was coming off, but not all of it was contained in the egg itself. A lot of it was actually falling onto the towel I had set out underneath my feet. After a few minutes of working on my heels, I compared my feet. Yes, it was a little smoother, and a little less rough, but my cracks were still there, and it still felt a little calloused. I tried it for a few more minutes, and still not much of a change. I moved on to the ball of my foot, and the corner of my big toe. Yes my feet are rough. I hate wearing shoes… It tickled more than I could handle, and ended up reaching for my foot file. It took a couple more minutes but it ended up removing more cracks and dead skin than the Ped Egg did. 

I already have it, so I’ll probably use it when I can’t find my foot file, but all in all, I wasn’t as impressed as I hoped I would be. It did work, just not as well as I would like it to be. 

My ped egg cost $9.95 at Fry’s… You can get one here if you’d like to try it for yourself! There is the original PedEgg, an Extra Large Ped Egg for Men, and a Pink Ped Egg for Breast Cancer Research!