This isn’t frugal or green - it just made me snort my coffee and I had to share…

Something funny for Saturday night!

Think you’re a bad designer? NSFW | The Next Train.

Hi Readers,

Over the last week, the our Hughesnet satellite has been down. Nine days without Internet - it was almost painful, although I got a lot of gardening done and a lot of writing done in my new book. I am happy to see there are a lot of new visitors! I hope you’ll keep coming back! New articles will be posted starting tomorrow, August 1.

All best,

Michelle Kennedy Hogan

I once wrote a piece for a newspaper about how to end poverty in this country by consuming less. The crux of my argument was that if people in America would recognize what true poverty is (think China right now - or Burma), then we could go a long way toward fixing our socio-economic issues.

I received several letters from outraged individuals who believed that I made it sound too easy…that our societal ills and economic issues were not the result of our own American-style consumerism, but of other, more complex issues. Of course, I understand that there are, in the United States, people with true burdens. But if we look at poverty in this country realistically - and I am speaking as a person who once lived in my car with three children - one could see that most of the “poverty” we speak about is not really true poverty at all.

Poverty is not a lack of cable TV.

Poverty is not a lack of gas in your SUV.

Poverty is not having to shop at yard sales for your clothing.

Poverty is not having to give up Oreos (and I do love Oreos).

Poverty is not having to eat rice and beans and pasta.

Poverty is not having to give up your million dollar condo and go live somewhere cheaper.

Continue Reading »

I just finished reading a story on CNN about a 67-year-old woman who is living in her car with her dogs. She had a good job in a nice area and after a recent layoff, can no longer afford to make ends meet. In fact, she is working and receiving some Social Security - and still cannot afford an apartment.

It sends me back to the days when I was living in my car with my three little ones. For the last three years, I have been speaking and writing ["Without a Net: Middle Class and Homeless (With Kids) in America"]about homelessness and my concern about the real estate bubble. While I recognize that my own story of homelessness is just that - my story - I have tried to illustrate that such a disaster can happen to anyone…no matter what choices one makes good or bad.

What most people, particularly the middle class, are beginning to understand is that many of us are just one paycheck away from homelessness.

Read the CNN story here.

http://yesboleh.blogspot.com/2008/05/chinese-policewoman-helps-quake-effort.html

Just read this story about a remarkable Chinese policewoman who is nursing her own baby, the babies of mothers too traumatized by the earthquake to produce milk and several orphan babies! I wish I could send her food and water - talk about an heroic effort.

Debunking Common Myths about Homeschooling

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“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturidly and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to it’s lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness out of it, and publish it’s meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”

-Henry David Thoreau

Jeez, I take a week off to work on the farm and I don’t know which way is up! So, as we all know - now - Nalgene is not using BPA plastic anymore. Yay! However, the CEO of Sigg (the metal bottles) can’t confirm whether or not the lining to their bottles has BPA in it. Ugh!

So - what to do? Well, we’re making the varsity athletes take water to practice in rinsed out milk jugs and a couple of HDPE Nalgene’s we had hanging around.

Fortunately, we only drink out of glass around the house (the kids use those jelly glasses that are mostly resistant to falling on the floor)…so I was thinking about buying a couple of nice, thick glass bottles (like the ones they sell at the Co-op for taking the bulk vinegar home) and knitting a nice thick padded carrying bag for it.

Frankly, I’m just getting tired of the whole thing…but if I make a cool bag for the bottle, I’ll post it here and let you see how it looks! If anyone has a pattern or suggestions for such a bag - please let me know!

Well, I finally did it. Frugal me ditched all the Nalgene bottles in the house. I just couldn’t live with the idea that I was pumping Bisphenol A (BPA) into my poor kids bodies while trying to save a dollar! We are off to purchase new Sigg bottles for all. I would give them glass, but - well, they’re kids and you know how that goes!

Why did I do it? Well, first a definition. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical building block used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate is a lightweight plastic that is shatter, heat and electrically resistant. So, it’s found in most everything we use.

BPA is used as polycarbonate plastic to make a wide variety of items, including eyeglass lenses; DVDs; housings for computers and appliances; car headlights; helmets; goggles and all kinds of medical devises. It is also used in reusable food and drink containers.

Epoxy is used as a tough exterior for all kinds of laminates, composites, paints and adhesives. It is also used as a coating on the inside of metal cans in order to prevent corrosion and contamination of canned foods and beverages.

So what’s wrong with it? Well, as Jeremy Elton Jacquot recently wrote in Treehugger.com: “has for the first time been linked to female reproductive disorders in a strongly-worded statement released by 38 scientists and published online in the journal Reproductive Toxicology. The compound, which is used in a variety of consumer items such as polycarbonate plastic baby bottles, microwave oven dishes and sports bottles, often seeps from containers and enters the bodies of humans.

After reviewing close to 700 studies, the scientists determined that people are regularly exposed to BPA levels that exceed those harmful to lab animals — singling out infants and fetuses as the most vulnerable. The statement was accompanied by a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) study that found that uterine damage caused by BPA exposure in newborn animals might predict a host of reproductive disorders in women — including endometriosis, cystic ovaries, fibroids and cancers. While earlier studies had linked early-stage cancers and lower sperm counts in animals to low BPA doses, no study had ever linked exposure to female reproductive diseases.”

Read the rest of his article here.

The Mission for the Day:

To eliminate as much BPA as possible from our lives. Here’s our list:

1. To rid ourselves of all of our Nalgene and Nalgene-style bottles. I have just placed my online order for new Sigg bottles.

2. To get rid of all sippy cups, other plastic cups and any baby bottles we might have laying around (I was going to donate the ones I received as gifts, but now I’ll just lose them). I don’t pump breastmilk either, so I really have no purpose for a baby bottle.

3. Commit to not drinking hot beverages out of plastic or reusing soda bottles because of the BPA breakdown.

4. No more water from water coolers! Encourage workplaces that use water coolers to use Brita pitchers in the fridge, or put Brita filters on a common tap in the breakroom.

5. Never heat or reheat food in a plastic container - switch it into a ceramic bowl or plate.

Please pass this on to your friends and loved ones…and add any comments you feel will help!

QUICK UPDATE: Teethers and pacifiers for baby! I didn’t even think of these because we don’t use them…but there are plenty of BPA-free alternatives if your baby does like them. [amazonify]B0014D47YC[/amazonify]

Just wanted to put this link out there for a cool blog - Nerd Family

They are hosting the new edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling…check it out. I love blog carnivals, as they are a great opportunity to see some blogs I might not have found otherwise!