Halloween Festivities for the Imperfect Environmentalist

So my family is participating in a variety of Halloween activities and as a more holistic sort I trend on the more natural of things, but for Halloween all that absolutely flies out the window and for 7 days its utter sugar coma chaos. I took my children to the Boo at the Zoo here in Detroit (btw was a WONDERFUL family friendly experience, accept for the few smoking parents for which I nearly tangled with until my husband forcably removed me from the situation, all while I was video taping our children...you tube upload to follow) my son and daughter were in a state of euphoric delight running from treat station to treat station at the Zoo, in the dark, with the animals....they LOVED it. I did too. My environmental spin, we took re-usable candy bags (pumpkin buckets) and my son wore a costume he's had in his box for years (a cheetah so he could fit in with the animals) and my daughter forever a princess (Halloween or not) wore some of her existing jewels and hair gear to match her new store bought Barbie Princess Bride. A mom has to cave in to things so sweet as a daughter wanting to look like their momma as a bride.
So once again, a few little things to balance out the guilt of the candy, pumpkin waste (although I did toast seeds and feed the squirrels the guts) you do what you can, and you try harder tomorrow. Happy Halloween!

Home Renovations

So today I proudly packed up every screw and bracket that held up a vintage metal curtain rod, for every window of the home we just purchased and took it all to the scrap metal bin at SOCCRA. Along with vintage, and when I mean vintage I mean 1950s chemicals and paints to the Household Hazardous Waste drop off. It felt good to do it the right way when it would have been so easy to put it in the trash. (Especially since it was such a cruddy day of drizzly non-stop rain) but the angel on my environmental shoulder was louder than the devil. Another great green thing we were able to do is use no-VOC paint for all of our painting. Sherwin Williams and PPG both carry a very high quality product and the side effect- no stink. Got to love it.

On the imperfect side of myself today, my son and I used aerosol spray paint to decorate his foam balls (meant to look like Dunkin Donut Munchkins) we used glow in the dark glue (who knows what kind of chemicals are in that) and sprinkled Halloween sprinkles on the exterior. Needless to say I've been craving munchkins all day.

Day One in the life of the imperfect environmentalist

After much ado about, well nothing and the continued need for self-expression in a creative and fun (funny) way. I decided to embark on my own little blog. I was going to call it graceful like a chicken...but my friend has that blog already...btw its hilarious. So I fell upon the imperfect (that would be me) environmentalist (that would be my ultimate goal). I love the imperfection because I think its the most relate-able thing about me. I'm just so imperfect, it makes me rather appealing in a way. I am striving to raise my family in the utmost GREEN fashion. I serve only organic fruits, vegetables, and juices when I can. I buy organic or free range meats. I recycle up the wazoo, I use cloth towels and napkins, I rarely use chemicals of any kind in my home... but there is where the imperfection lies... on my quest for the lofty goals of being GREEN...I skip, trip, and stumble along the way. I hope that this blog will give those of you on the quest for a greener lifestyle something to chuckle about, relate to, and possibly give you some tidbits of my lived upon wisdom.