Archive for the 'Choices' Category

Weather Worries…

Although most of us have been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather of late, we all know deep down that this sort of unusual weather is a trend that we are seeing more and more of, and frankly, should be very concerned about.

I remember back in the nineties, there was a huge trend of “eco-friendly” everything. Role models such as David Suzuki told us that our planet was in big trouble, and many of us actually listened. As a rather rebellious teen-ager, I took it upon myself to do as many earth-friendly things as I could back then. I joined “Peaceful and Ecological Minds” our high school environmentalists group where I got informed and began taking action by educating others. I became a vegetarian, a lifestyle change that I maintained for many years. I became very aware of animal testing for consumer products, and boycotted as many of these products as I possibly could. I made homemade household cleaners, my own soap, and made sure all laundry in our home was hung to dry. I even researched what I could about water usage reduction, and I took short showers, never ever let faucets run unnecessarily, and installed a water-saver in our toilet! Wow - so much change for a young person.

I am embarassed to say however, that I have dropped almost all of these changes from my home as an adult. I don’t think it is anything more than the simple fact that I “forgot” to maintain them. Perhaps we all need a refersher course in the small changes we can make to make big differences globally?

When I logged onto Yahoo this morning, I noticed the “Yahoo Answers” forum, and decided to check it out (seeing as I had the time because my children and husband were all still asleep)

I wanted to share some of the advice given to the question “What do you think it will take to reverse the effects of global climate change?”

If you have a few minutes, click here for some good advice on this topic. I didn’t realise that some of the things we already do in this household could have such an important affect on our earth. I feel inspired to do more again. I know we can do it, and it isn’t really all that hard. It really comes down to reversing some of the bad habits we have slipped back into, and re-learning how to do things in an earth-friendly way.

Fellow blogger Katherine Seibert also has many useful tips and articles about Environmentally friendly alternatives and Globally sensitive issues on her blog at Edeva. Check it out! She recently informed me of a company called Norwex, who produce earth friendly alternative products. Let’s all try as hard as we can for some positive change! We owe it to ourselves and to our children to be respnsible Stewards of our planet.

What’s in a Name?

As I mentioned before, we’re pretty sure that our new baby is going to be a girl. Stuart and I have a few names that we *mostly* agree on, but for the most part, we are lacking in any real inspiration when it comes to choosing the name of our future daughter.

I really do find the task of naming a child quite daunting indeed. I’m sure that all the Bertha’s, Betty-Joe’s and Mary-Lou’s of the world are none-to-pleased with the choice that their parents made for them (if this is your name by the way, I do apologise, and offer my deepest condolences!) So I do not want to end up naming our child something that she will not like. I am so happy that my parents chose the name Catherine for me. It is classic, elegant and beautiful (if I do say so myself!)

When Liam was born, we left the hospital the next day, with our little bundle in tow, yet, he remained nameless for days. A new baby doesn’t always look like anyone really. They have yet to show you their personality, and you know virtually nothing about them. In retro-spect, I am glad we chose the name Liam for our son, and despite it’s seemingly enormous popularity, I really do think it suits him.

This being said, if anyone has a great suggestion for a girl name (not you Dad, “Lewanda-Fay” does not count! And Keep them coming Kristi!) please pass them on…we can use alll the help we can get :-)