"It's time to start living the life you've imagined" - Henry James 

How long are you going to wait?  Until you lose the weight, you have the time, the kids are grown, you get a better job, you retire?  Our lives may never be perfect, but you can inch closer to your dreams and desires every day of your life.  If you always wait for the perfect time, it will never happen.

 Have you even thought what your dreams are?  Do you remember when you were little and you said "When I grow up, I'm going to be a __!"  Or, "When I grow up, I'm going to do__".  What happened to the dreams of that young child? "Life got in the way" is what some will say.  Well, there is always something to get in the way of even our best laid plans.  What we have to ask ourselves is, "How badly do I want this?"

Life is meant to be lived - not altogether an original thought, but certainly worth repeating.  Somewhere, deep down in places we've buried, you have an inner child that is wanting to grow up and be something - great, interesting, appreciated or awe-inspiring.  Why not let them come out and play?

Get Ready for Spring

Ready to get organized?  I found a great site, Earth911.  If my personal goal for today wasn't "using my time wisely", I would have sat here all morning going through all the green tips they have that would even teach me quite a few more things.  I did come across their blog about spring cleaning your garage and thought
 the info was so great, I wanted to share it with you!  I wish I could say I came up with this myself,
 but I guess that's the beauty of having staff reporters.  Being organized is a sure sign of being a B.A.B.E!  Anyway, thanks to Earth911 for all the handy tips!  Without further ado, here you go:

http://earth911.com/news/2011/03/28/spring-cleaning-your-garage/

Quick cleaning tip: For organization, separate your clutter into four categories - garbage, recycling, keep, sell/donate. (Stock Photo) Thanks earth911, for the use of the photo!

How to Nourish Your Child’s Body and Mind

From the awesome gals @ Nutrition Babes  (Thanks Lauren & Kathy), some great thoughts on how to teach, and keep, your kids healthy:

How to Nourish Your Child’s Body and Mind

Feeding children is not an easy task.  Between picky eaters, after school activities, weekend sports, etc, it’s tough to be consistent.  If the old adage, “you are what you eat” is true, we need to pay extra attention to what we feed those little growing bodies.  When the body receives optimal nourishment, kids perform better at school and in all of their activities.  Proper nutrition will help temper the behavioral highs and lows associated with poor eating habits.  This information could fill more than a book, so a blog requires some simplifying.  Here is our list of major guidelines for healthy eating for children:

1. Breakfast is critical!  Bodies need fuel to get going the same way your car needs gas.  We can’t expect our kids to think clearly and perform well in school on an empty tank.

2. Eat every 3-5 hours.  Skipping meals or not planning ahead can cause kids to experience a dip in energy levels and concentration.  Make sure your child has a snack if there is a long stretch between breakfast and lunch. The same goes for after school if they have activities, or if dinner is late.

3. Balance meals and snacks.  It is essential to have a mix of carbohydrates (preferably whole grain), fat, and protein at each meal to optimize blood sugar stability.  Just a bagel with jelly will cause them to feel hungry much sooner than scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast.  Think about having one serving from each “food group” at every meal.

4. Add whole grains at least ½ the time.  Whole grains are essential to helping kids get their daily fiber intake, as well as stabilizing their hunger as they are digested more slowly than refined white grains.

5. When possible, avoid food dyes, additives and preservatives.  While some studies have linked food dyes and preservatives to increased hyperactivity in children with ADHD, new studies are linking these chemicals to hyperactive behavior in kids that do not have ADD.  This one is tough.  Most “kid” food is made with colors not found in nature.  Look for foods colored with fruit or vegetable dyes, not red 40 or yellow 5.  Look for short ingredient lists, organic foods and minimally processed foods.  If your third grader can’t pronounce the ingredients, they probably shouldn’t be eating it.

6. Wash produce well, even if you are not eating the peel!  When cutting fruit like a cantaloupe, most people will not think to wash the outside.  There can be harmful bacteria on the exterior of fruits and veggies that can transfer to the inside flesh when cut.  Make sure to wash all produce well before cutting or peeling.  If you are washing edible fruit like berries, consider using castile soap.  It’s a natural soap that will help remove some extra pesticide residues. 

7. Pay attention to sodium!  New dietary guidelines recommend a major cut in sodium, even for kids.  The new recs are 1500mg per day, or about 2/3 of a teaspoon.  Limit processed and fast foods.  Read labels!

8. Stay hydrated the smart way. Depending on their age and activity level, children will require anywhere from 4-11 cups of fluid per day.  The best choices are water, skim or 1% milk.  Whole milk is no longer necessary after a child’s 2^nd birthday.  Limit 100% fruit juice to a total of 4-6 ounces per day.  Instead of soda, add a splash of juice to seltzer.  Try to avoid sugar sweetened beverages that are a source of empty calories, especially sports drinks and caffeinated or herbal energy drinks. 

9.  Eat the colors of the rainbow.  Try to get your kids to choose several servings of produce per day.  Fresh is better, but make sure that if their choice is canned or frozen that it does not contain high fructose corn syrup or added sugar.  Ideally, half the plate at each meal should be filled with fruits and vegetables.

10. Heart disease can start as early as 9 years of age.  Just because your child is thin, does not mean it is OK to feed them junk food.  That food is still affecting their arteries, and learning healthy habits at a young age will decrease the likelihood of becoming obese later.

Make food fun.  Take the kids to the store and help them choose your groceries.  Include them in the cooking when you can, and expose them to new and different recipes.  Proper nutrition starts early.  Healthy habits now will lead to healthy adults later.

The #1 Money Mistake Women Make...

“If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.”

~Benjamin Franklin

No, it’s not passing up those fab shoes that were on sale!):  It’s saying "Yes" to everyone but themselves! You sacrifice your own financial security for the sake of others; cosigning loans for your adult kids that you know can’t handle money, letting your husband handle the retirement accounts. As Suze Orman puts it,
“Think about the instructions on a plane: If you’re with a child, put your own oxygen mask on first. Same is
true with your money. Put your own financial oxygen mask on first so that if something happens you will be in a position to help without risking your own financial future.”



Stop wasting your money on:
• Eating out everyday…pack your lunch and learn to cook dinner!
• Mocha whatevers at Starbucks. One of those everyday & you’ll spend
over $1,000/year!
• Vacations you can’t afford
• Clothing, shoes, and jewelry you don’t need, even if they’re on sale!
Want to start saving for vacation this summer? Check out www.ingdirect.com. It’s an online savings account that lets you create sub-accounts (ex.: “vacation”, Emergency Fund”, “Christmas”, etc).
It’s FDIC insured and typically has a better rate than a traditional brick & mortar bank. It’s linked right to your checking account, so it’s easier than ever to save money!

This just in: Want to do the math on mortgages, retirement savings, insurance, etc.?
Check out www.Dinkeytown.net. They have over 300 free financial calculators to do all of the above. Cool.

Be in control of your cash & you'll be on your way to becoming the B.A.B.E you always dreamed of!

Being a Good Parent Sucks

Yeah, I said it.  Trying, anyway, to be a good parent kind of sucks.  To do what truly is the best for your kid makes them mad, you "don't understand" and if you are in the unfortunate position of having a divorced situation, the "other" parent always understands more than you.  My daughter got in trouble at school & was issued a Saturday detention.  Now, she's a good kid, but she made a bad judgment call, so they hit her with Saturday school.  As I was tempted to let that be the only punishment, wrongly thinking "that was punishment enough", I stopped to think about what a bad idea it was to think that way.
Remember when you feared about the punishment at home because you knew whatever you got at home would be ten times worse than at school?   It seems like many of us are taking it way too easy on our kids.  I am certainly not talking about capital punishment, but teaching our kids real consequences.  Sometimes consequences suck.  Sometimes, you screw up at your job with a bad judgment call and you get fired.
Raising my daughter to be a successful adult is a huge priority to me.  Realizing that what we teach our kids when they are young should be about what they can expect as adults in this big, sometimes not-so-nice world.  It's all about making the right decisions and guiding them into doing so...even when they tell us we suck.

Eco Chic Beauty Tips

How fun to be asked to talk about stuff that you like to talk about!  Example:  I was asked to be interviewed by Columbus Alive  and Jackie Mantey.  She wanted my thoughts on eco-friendly style & beauty tips.  Fun!  Because newspapers have limited space & I do not, here is the complete list of tips I threw out:

1. Do not use any bath or beauty product with Palm Oil in the ingredient list.  This is the single most damaging environmental product out there.  Seriously.  Burning down forests, loss of life, greenhouse gases; the list is extensive.  Check it out:  www.theproblemwithpalmoil.org
2. Go with the organic seal.  Then you know that no pesticides were used to grow the ingredients used in your product.  Pesticides = Poisons.
3. Use one nice razor, like the Mach 3 (love it!) instead of a gazillion disposable ones.  The better razors need only the head replaced. Come on, you have the cash to pony up the money for one nice razor.  Skip Starbucks for 2 days & you'll be fine.  Over 2 billion disposable razors are dumped into our landfills each year?  
4. Get a low-flow shower head.  Do you know that even a low-flow uses 2.5 gallons a minute?  In many city slums in other countries, they only have about 8 gallons of water a day for everything they need.  Makes ya think about that 20 minute shower.
5. Look for "Not Tested on Animals" & the "Cruelty Free" seal.  That's the best you can do to ensure you're not contributing to cruel & inhumane practices.  Not necessary in today's world.  Boo.
6. Use the same washcloth for a few days instead of facial wipes and use the same towel for a few days...you are clean, right?
7. Use organic cotton cotton balls.  25% of pesticides used are used for growing cotton.  Someone lives downstream from all that poisonous waste.  
8. Take stock.  Organize your stuff, donate what you don't need (shampoos/conditioners to local shelters) and you'll save time & money!  When you are disorganized, you end up buying more stuff and making more stuff is not eco-friendly.  
9. Do the best you can!  Don't get overwhelmed and think you can't possibly do it all!  Maybe just change one thing a month and you'll be on your way to becoming a B.A.B.E!

Thanks to Jackie & Jodi Miller (photographer) for taking time to spread some eco-love and helping us all to be Better Earthlings!

They Didn't Do "Green" Back Then

At B.A.B.E, we're not all about being green, er, well, we are, but not only about being green!  This next piece was sent to me by a friend (Thanks,Donna!) this morning & I thought it was too perfect not to share.  Enjoy (made my job easy today!)!

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized
to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my
Day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then,
they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to
the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. 




But they didn’t have the green thing back her day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an
escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the
grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every
time they had to go two blocks.

But she’s right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.


Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have
the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy
gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the
green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in
every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish,
not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they
blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric
machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to
cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They
refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they
replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the
whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But they didn’t have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to 
school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a
24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not
an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they
didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from
satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest
pizza joint.

But they didn't have the green thing back then!

International Year of the Forest

Seems like we have a theme for each day and month of the year.  Sometimes they seem silly, sometimes they should stop and make us think.  Apparently, unbeknownst to me, this is the International Year of the Forest, made so by the U.N.  Who knew?

Since the gals here at B.A.B.E are known treehuggers, this seems a good thematic year!

  How important are our forests? (Thanks to Earthwatch & the U.N. site for this compilation)

• 31% of the world’s entire land mass is forest
• Forests are home to a staggering 80% of terrestrial biodiversity
• 300 million people worldwide live in forests, many of whom depend upon them for shelter, medicine and clean water
• The livelihoods of 1.6 billion people depend on forests
• 36% of all forest is primary forest and is undisturbed by humans
• Annual trade in forest products was estimated in 2004 to be US$327 billion
• 30% of the world’s forests are used for the production of timber and non-timber products

There are tons of stats about all the great things forests do, what's in them & why you should save them.  There are lots of organizations that would love to have your support (American Forests, Rainforest Action Network, World Wildlife Fund, Nature Conservancy, etc.) so they can do the work that we cannot.  Wanna do something?  Check one of these out & become a member.  That's the easiest way to help make a difference!

Here are my not-so-poetic bullet points for why you should care about forests:

• They are beautiful, amazing, soothing and vital for our survival.
• They provide food, shelter & medicines.  Many people you know would be dead if it were not for the medicines found in the forests of the world. True, true...look it up: Rosy Periwinkle.
• City-dwelling trees enhance downtown areas, raise property value and combat air pollution

Anyhoo, point is, take a few minutes,think about what you maybe could do this year to help preserve forests - we have lots of ideas at B.A.B.E - and perhaps, when no one is looking, you could reach out and hug one.