Car air fresheners are loaded with chemicals. Make your own. Attach a decorative piece of cloth to cardboard and cut into a pleasing shape or decorate it. Soak in any essential oil you like, and place in your car.
[For more easy, money-saving, earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]
This Sunday morning we turn our clocks back. What will we do with the extra hour we’ve gained? Why not share it with someone who doesn’t necessarily consider time a friend, like that neighbor or acquaintance who is too ill or shy to get out much. We can spend time feeding hungry families at a kitchen, gathering food for local food pantries that serve them, visiting veterans at the VA, bringing a picnic lunch and conversation to Aunt Sally at the nursing home. Or give that extra hour exclusively to our children, playing, reading, or just being together. Or nurture our marriage with an uninterrupted hour together, being present to each other. Through that one hour, we won’t let stress, overwork, or other pressures interfere with our relationships. In short, rather than waste that morsel of extra time we can use it to enjoy and share the gift of life.
I heard something on the news yesterday about the Middle East, that it’s heating up so rapidly that eventually humans won’t be able to live there.
Then I thought about the loooooooong, dehumanizing war there over rightful–and God-given–land ownership.
It made me think: politicians and heads of state can’t resolve the issue; I wonder if Nature will. And, for those who believe in God and that the earth is in His real estate portfolio (both sides do), would that mean that the Big Guy is stepping in to remind the combatants that they were all once one tribe and that the land doesn’t really belong to either of them?
Just wondering.
If two pieces of chocolate were your prized possession, who would you give them to and why? What would your gift produce? We can never anticipate what an act of kindness will result in, can we? Seems like a good reason to hand out such acts as often as we can.
Here’s an example:
https://www.facebook.com/robert.eshbach/videos/1051135241572083/
[Thanks to Correna Compton for this.]Is my definition of “news” outmoded, narrow, or what? I saw a “news” item in one of those little boxes that Comcast uses on their TV screen-saver. It informed me that an actress and animal lover, Kaley Cuoco, had “adopted a cute puppy named Chester.”
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo…kay……
An expiration date on a food package is not the same as a sell by date, which is when it should be off the store shelf and on its way to being consumed. Don’t waste perfectly good food. Go to www.shelflifeadvice.com to check how long it’s safe to eat specific items (fresh and packaged) before tossing good food into the land-fill.
[For more easy, money-saving, earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]
You might think that a British anthropologist who studies animal behavior has her mind somewhere else but in the human world. Not true of Jane Goodall, who is also U.N. Messenger of Peace. Her experiences and studies have led her to the conclusion offered in today’s Thursday Thought:
I love it when I receive another payment from a loan I made. My latest is from a family man in Kanese, Uganda. My big loan was $25. It’s to send his kids to school. He works hard at his job, plus farming on the side to add to his income. He dreams of a better future for his kids, and he knows that education, although costly, is their path to that future.
He’s one of a bunch of people I give micro loans to through KIVA. Some are people on the other side of the earth, some are in the good US of A. All are people that KIVA has vetted as having a true need and a determination to repay the loan. My $25 is added to similar loans to get to the needed amount. Over the months, I receive updates on how the person is doing. I get payments, too, until the loan is totally paid off. At that point, I can get my $25 back, or I can invest it in someone else. I’m sure you can guess which choice I always make.
I’ve even given a loan in someone else’s name, as a gift. (Christmas is coming….)
Find out more about this life-changing program by going to http://www.kiva.org.
This is Janakason, at a rare time when he isn’t working.
Fabric softeners are expensive, unhealthy (designed to leave chemical residue in your clothes), and not eco-friendly (one chemical ingredient going down the drain contaminates our water supply; another is on the EPA’s hazardous waste list). Instead, use ½ cup white vinegar in the rinse cycle to soften and freshen your laundry.
[For more easy, money-saving, earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]