Madsen Cycles!

Ok-- so this has to be one the neatest things I have seen in a while. Or-- as my husband would say, "a-wHiLe." (That's a shout out.)

Presenting the new Madsen Cargo Cycle. Available in two styles: Rack & Bucket, and in three fantastic color choices. As many of you know, I fantasize about becoming a serious biker. Not like, the athletic kind, although there IS that, but the "instead of car kind." Last year I did a trial run from the house to my office to see how it would go and decided it was totally doable, but then I took forever considering the logistics of carrying a change of clothes, my lunch, my purse, and on and on. Apparently I am not such a light traveler.

However, I also love the idea of biking for errands. My husband and I frequent our local market at least biweekly with our handfuls of cloth and reusable bags. We have some regular vendors now (shout out to Joe!) and love the ritual of the whole thing. In my daily efforts to be greener, this is right up my alley.

Here's a small blurb on the Bucket version from their website.

Load up the kids and head to the market. The kg271/BUCKET model will carry your precious cargo and help you complete all your errands in style. The BUCKET comes equipped with a removable seat and two seat belts.

Click on the link to the left (See BIKE!) for pictures and more information. They are also having a contest and a free bike giveaway to 1. people who post about them and 2. the most hits they get from other sites! Help me win! Check out the Madsen today!

Happy Earth Day!

It's late in the day to be posting this, and I have to apologize to everyone for getting so far behind on my big "Happy Day," message. I was pretty excited earlier on in the year about celebrating Earth Day, but then somehow I fell completely off the radar.

No pictures, no links, no food to share. All I have is a big "Happy Earth Day" to you. Go out and hug a tree today and plant some tomatoes.

This Bread is Bananas!

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!! That's all. It's just banana bread. Mmmmmmm. Banana bread.

Shelving!

The "Before" and "Afters" of my kitchen wall.

The entire kitchen got painted, the two windows got new curtains, and this wall, this wall got the old spice cabinets removed, a new added cabinet for extra work space, new drywall installed, new paint, and now-- new shelves! We are so excited. The storage capacity of the kitchen just increased by 15 more feet of space, and the wall seems to finally "fit in" to the function of a kitchen.

These elfa shelves came courtesy of The Container Store, one of my favorite places in the world (I used to be a full timer.) If you need me to sell you on this high quality system I'd be happy to, as they are the best-toughest-strongest-never break-never rust shelves you can get anywhere. No joke. I even offer installation lessons. The Container Store is having a 30% off elfa sale now though May 10th. (Can you hear the man in the background chanting... "hurry, hurry, hurry!")

The whole thing makes me want to sigh in relief... "Ahhhh..."

Coolest Laundry Hamper Around

Check out these amazing, extra large hampers! These are by Jenny Hurth at Elbow Grease Designs in San Francisco and are made from discarded vinyl signs and banners. Check our the website to see lots more great products out of these materials.

Elbow Grease Designs

Green Coffee Sleeves!

... Since I mentioned it below I thought I would go the extra mile and do a quick update about the "insulation rings" for coffee cups. (But if you google them don't search it that way! Try "green coffee sleeves" instead.) Here's a great website with some very trendy sleeves retailing for about $12. If you drink coffee regularly it can really add up to a worthy investment. Plus they are just plain cool.

Check it out! These are from Wishing Fish.
http://www.wishingfish.com/cupcouture.html

(Take a look around Wishing Fish. They also sell some great Envirosax Reusable bags and the Not a Paper Cup! Yeah!)

Not a Paper Cup

Like me, you may have seen this product for sale in a number of places. I had seen it and thought -- Wow, what a great idea! But not being too much of a shopper left it at that. Then, back in December, one of my friends gave it to me as a birthday gift! As I like try out new and exciting green products and report the skinny, I thought I'd share.

This is called, "I'm not a paper cup," and is in fact NOT a paper cup but a porcelain cup with a silicon, heat resistant lid. The outside of the cup is matte (to look dull like paper) and the inside is coated to repel stains and odors like a regular coffee mug. I already have a slew of to-go coffee mugs in my attempts to be-greener, but somehow this little lidded mug had the perfect spot in my life as an in-office afternoon tea cup. It's nice because it's easily washable, non disposable, cute, readily available, and --- has a lid! (Unlike other coffee cups.) The only con I have found so far is that it gets very hot, like mugs will, and there is no handle and no insulation ring a la Starbucks. They do sell reusable insulation rings though, so maybe that will be my next purchase.

All in all, the cuteness wins here. It's ideal for me, where there is coffee and tea readily available at work throughout the day, (we have a Starbucks here, in the building) and it's a nice way to refuel without the waste.

The bottom image I found online when searching for extra info about the cup. Someone had decorated theirs to give it a little extra "personality."

Make Over March

Ever since I started this blog I wanted to do my own header (above.) I finally figured it out. Either that, or blogger finally made it so easy I could figure it out. Regardless, I was finally able to post my own header, and I decided to try out a new template as well to incorporate more green!! Right now there are things I am trying to tweak, but I am liking the overall feel. What do you think?

Plain Janes

I can't remember now how I first happened upon the Plain Janes website. I am sure it was after I decided to start changing the small things in my life to become a greener Me, but I don't remember when or where I was. I do know that as soon as I came across the website, Plain Janes became an instant and permanent addition to my "Get Green" links.

I am so excited and proud to announce that now, I am not just a fan from a distance, but I am also a qualified, bon-a-fide, for-real-fan. (i.e. I bought the stuff!) It was a semi-birthday, semi-Chrismas present to Me, from Me, that I had to talk myself into buying about three times before I finally placed the order. It was a big decision for me because I didn't just want the shower spray. Or the glass cleaner. Or the plush micro fiber rags and mop heads. No. I wanted it all.

What's the saying? If you're gonna go, go big?

So I ordered the large starter kit. AND The Tool, which is like a swiffer mop (used for wet and dry mopping) but oh so much better.

And. It all arrived in the mail today! Marta, at Plain Janes, even added in some extra goodies for me to try (like smell good sachets for your linen drawers) as there was a mix up at the Post Office and the packages went back to her to be sent again. (I am convinced our mail man just didn't want to deliver them in the snow... see my post below!)

Ironically, in the weird twist of fate that is life, my husband cleaned the whole house today. So when I got home later, it was sparkling and clean, and my Plain Jane packages were sitting there waiting to be opened and begging to be used!

So I did. I couldn't resist. My husband was sweet enough to leave me some bathroom "surface" cleaning, and I went to town with my new Glass and Mirror Spray and new Glass and Mirror Microfiber Cloths. All I have to say is: AMAZING.

First of all, all of the products smell fantastic. It's almost aromatherapy. It's almost edible. It is so much better than trying not to breathe and choking back the fumes of the other toxic brands. Secondly, I have used everything under the sun to try to clean the beautiful glass doors in our downstairs shower. They are actually doors that when I first laid my eyes upon them (with my realtor) I thought to myself, "Hello, Trouble." I have used foaming spray, glass cleaner, mildew remover, squeegees, shammies, and finally, an every day after shower spray. The shower spray does help, but only after I scrub and scrub and scrub with one of the other foul-smelling-ruin-my-clothes products.

The Plain Janes spray (mmm lime) and microfiber cloth were just that. Spray. Wipe. Sparkle. Done. Yeah! I was so impressed that I proceeded to clean all of the mirrors in my house, some so old and grimy I never thought I'd see myself clearly in them again. Plain Janes worked on them all.

So. I am sold. Hook, line, and good for the Earth sinker. I am especially excited about the good for ME part. It's OK to be selfish every once in a while.

Dining Room Diner

In our big "remodel" push that started a few weeks ago, we went ahead and bought a gallon of paint for our gray dining room. In our last house, all the rooms were yellows and golds and warm tans (or red) and it was small and cozy and very home-y like. While this new house is in every way a vast improvement from our last, we hadn't really done much (color wise) to make it feel all warm and cozy. So we painted. The dining room is now a beautiful warm yellow. It's amazing how quickly the feel of a room can change with just a can of paint! And it's also ridiculous how long it took me to decide on yellow since yellow is THE color to match everything in that room. Dishes, curtains, pictures, etc.

We once again used the Home Depot Fresh Aire (bought at the same time as the kitchen paint) and I now have this to add to my previous glowing review: This paint must be used over primer. I know any professional painter will tell you-- of course you use primer first! But we had really convinced ourselves that because the walls were light (light gray) and the paint had gone on so easily in the kitchen (over primer!) that we would not NEED primer. So we didn't prime, and it was a nightmare. It seriously took us three coats of paint-- which meant we had to go back to Home Depot and buy another gallon of paint-- of which we used the whole thing. (And this is not cheap paint.) So. While I still hold to my original comment, "Wow-- what great non toxic non stinky paint," I will also add, "MUST PRIME."

Now that we are done... the dining room is wonderful. It reminds me of some romantic little bistro, or even the basement wine cellar in Cortona where we would eat our Wednesday night brick oven pizzas... almost. Without the rows and rows of wine. Or the brick oven pizza. But you get where I am going.

Winter Cometh

The first big snow storm of the season comes to Ohio. Sigh.. with it still forecasted to snow the rest of the week. I was really ok with the cold, and the snow on and off, and the big piles of snow are pretty... but TERRIBLE to drive in.

I think I can...

So fresh and so clean! The kitchen, almost done. All we need now are the shelves (for the empty wall) and a new floor rug. Anyone know where I can find one to match my new curtains?