Mondays at the Booth: Aromatherapy Diffusion

(Wow, that sounds all Scientific and Scholarly, doesn’t it? Well, tell you what: “diffusion” just means “getting the nice smelling oils into the air so you can smell them”)

Come over to the Green Phone Booth for the second post in my Aromatherapy series, on using essential oils by diffusing them into the air, at home, in the workplace, in the classroom, whatever…

Aromatherapy: Diffusion

a suburban greenmom fights the flu and winter blues with essential oils

Last week I talked a bit about aromatherapy—the use of plant essential oils—in general; over the next few weeks I’ll take some individual posts to write about some of the more specific ways it can be used to avoid and/or replace a bunch of the icky synthetic chemicals and pharmaceuticals that pop up in our lives…

 

Walmart will always be Walmart

Despite their new high-profile insistence that they are All About the Green Healthy Efforts, it seems to me that Walmart will always be Walmart.

Now they are coming out with a new line of makeup–geared for girls aged 8-12. Which means the little girls in my son’s second grade classroom are among its target audience. (Oh, excuse me…it’s not marketed for the children, it’s marketed to their parents. Makes all the difference.  Maybe. Or not.)

Some people are calling for a boycott. Some of us have been boycotting Walmart for years.

In any case, if I had even a moment of hope that Walmart is somehow evolving and changing into a wonderful environmentally and personal-healthy company, it was a brief one.

Am I crazy that I think 8-year-old girls and mascara are a ridiculous mix?

Taco Hell goes to battle…

It gets more and more interesting…remember the other day, when I (and about 98% of the green blogosphere) had something to say about the alleged 35% beef lawsuit against Taco Bell?

Well, they are fighting back, taking the free advertising for all its worth (which is a lot) and trumpeting their version of the truth (88% beef) all over the place…

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Spice Blend–for Sweet Stuff

This is not a big deal at all, just one of the little things I’ve started doing that’s turned out to be awesome, so I’m passing it along…

First of all, whenever I empty a glass spice jar, I never ever toss it out.  Those are handy little suckers, and they don’t take up much space. (Note: the jars are infinitely reusable, but the plastic lids tend to take on the odor of whatever spice lived in there before. Please do not try this spice blend and store it in a jar that used to hold garlic powder, okay?)

Last time I ran out of cinnamon, I held onto the jar. Having gotten tired of, every time I made oatmeal or pie or anything of that nature, getting out 5 little jars and putting in a little of each spice, I made up a blend that basically matches what I’d end up doing if I got out all the little jars, and stored it in that jar-formerly-known-as-cinnamon:

“Sweet” Spice Blend:

In a spice jar, put (by the way, really anything beyond the first three or four is optional, just seriously yummy):

• 6 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground anise seed
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves

Put the lid on, shake well. That’s it. Makes just under half a bottle, with the ones I have. I use this all the time. I sprinkle a little on my ground coffee before pouring the water over it.  I put it on oatmeal.  I put it in cakes. I put it in pies. I put it in rice pudding. Pretty much any cinnamony-winter-spicy dish or beverage I can think of, this is a great addition. (Like hot milk, with a little vanilla and sugar and some of this sprinkled on top…a lovely before-bed not-very-high-calorie drink…)  And it’s incredibly easy.  Using it means I crave less sugar in whatever the recipe is, too, because it adds so much really deep and layered flavor to whatever it is…

So–like I say, not a big deal–but do let me know if this works for you, or if you have any similar-type blends with more or less ingredients!

Interesting commentary on the banning of Happy Meal toys…

I found this article over at Grist really fascinating:

MC-INTERPRETING THE LAW

Why the Happy Meal is a crime—and not just a culinary one

It’s an interesting take, and one I’m both disappointed and unsurprised has not gotten much “play” in the media versions of this fairly dramatic story.

Read the actual article, but in a nutshell: the author points out that it’s not that the “government is telling us what to feed our kids” that promotes the ban, but the fact that marketing directly to children is against the law. Did you know that? I didn’t know that. I’m not sure the TV networks know it either. The law says that deception in advertising is not a First Amendment right but is against the law, and that children under a certain age are cognitively not yet able to discern that they are being marketed to, and thus any marketing directly to them is inherently deceptive.

I’ve seen more tenuous legal gyrations hold water; this one makes pretty good sense to me.

The thing is, there’s SO MUCH marketing directly to kids, so many instances where this legal requirement is just completely blown off, that I don’t think most of us are even aware it exists. But…it does.

So when you think of that, giving kids a free toy if they buy a really unhealthy meal is marketing to kids, and thus just plain illegal.

Hmm. Makes a little sense to me. Thoughts?

Welcome to Taco Hell

Sometimes you don’t know whether to laugh or cry:

Taco Bell sued for false advertising over beef claim

“…The meat mixture sold by Taco Bell restaurants contains binders and extenders and does not meet the minimum requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be labeled as “beef,” according to the legal complaint…Attorney Dee Miles said attorneys had Taco Bell’s “meat mixture” tested and found it contained less that 35 percent beef…”

WTF?

On the other hand, considering what’s in the “real” beef sold by a lot of McFastfood joints these days, this may be an advantage…

 

 

BPA and Infertility

Do you ever wonder why all the greenies are going so nuts over BPA and its ubiquitous presence in water bottles, can linings, sales receipts, and who-knows-what-all-else?

BPA AND INFERTILITY: WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?

So here it is: an actual link between infertile women seeking IVF and the amount of Bisphenol-A (BPA) in their systems.

Please, my friends–think about this the next time you reach for that disposable bottle of water. Think of it the next time you are about to give one to your daughter or son.

 

Mondays at the Booth: Aromatherapy Basics

Today at the Green Phone Booth I gave a general post about the use of plant essential oils around the house–sort of an “Aromatherapy Basics” overview.  These oils can be really helpful to anyone who would like to have a bigger arsenal of things with which to attack colds, funguses, and toilet bowls!

Come check it out!

Let’s blame Michelle Obama for this too…

Really? I mean, really?

Exercise, iPods and Michelle Obama Blamed For Increase In Pedestrian Deaths

This blows me away. But they are serious.

Check out this quote from a press release of the Governors’ Highway Safety Administration:

“It is definitely a concern. Looking at our data, we are seeing pedestrians crossing mid-block instead of at crosswalks, pedestrians walking in the roadway, and even some walking in the travel lanes of the interstate. We are familiar with aggressive drivers; we now have aggressive pedestrians.”

Aggressive pedestrians. Who are the reason for the increase in pedestrian deaths.

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from the musical Man of La Mancha: “Whether the stone hits the pitcher, or the pitcher hits the stone, it’s going to be bad for the pitcher.” Which is to say, wouldn’t one think the burden of safety ought to rest on the people travelling in the two-tons-of-steel-wheeled-enclosure-thingies, not the people walking around unprotected? And how insane is it to imply that the increase in pedestrian deaths is due to the larger number of people trying to decrease their carbon footprint and get more exercise by walking more places (with the tacit implication that they oughtta cut that dangerous behavior out), rather than to mention that the already dangerous behavior of many motorists who talk endlessly on the phone without hands-free, text while driving, eat entire meals in the car, and engage in all kinds of potentially distracting activities, becomes even more dangerous in areas where pedestrian traffic dominates?

But instead, we get, the roads belong to the drivers, and everyone else better just watch their step…

Grr.

 

Another reason not to diet (as if I needed one…)

I’m not sure if this is tragic or comforting:

Losing Weight=Toxic?

The premise here: it says that various bodily toxins collect in our fat tissue, and that when we lose weight and burn off the fat, the toxins get released into our bloodstream. It sounds all fairly tenuous, at this point, but…

I guess part of the point here is to try to avoid as many of the various toxic substances surrounding us as we can, so that when we lose weight we will have less nastiness to release, right?