We are big tech people. I can’t count how many servers, workstations, gaming consoles, and pieces of consumer electronics that we’ve purchased since we’ve been married. I’ve been recycling the big stuff — computers, laptops, monitors, and televisions — for a while now, but it’s been more difficult to figure out what to do with [...]
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A recent Consumer Reports story took a look at the safety of apple and grape juices, and the results were less-than-comforting. The organization tested a variety of juices including some organic options and found both arsenic and lead — neurotoxins that can cause a multitude of problems such as bladder, lung, and skin cancer as [...]
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I’ve been buying the Thanksgiving turkey for a few years now. I fight the crowds at Whole Foods, spend a crazy amount (last year I paid $75 for a 20-pound bird), and hand it off to my mother for cooking. And every year at least one or two people tell me I am insane to [...]
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I recently participated in a food-related Twitter party. During our discussion about Thanksgiving turkey and whether or not stuffing is safe to eat, the host asked about cookware: what were people cooking their turkeys in? I immediately tweeted that I used to cook in a non-stick Teflon pan, but about two years ago I banned [...]
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Recently, a few of my friends have mentioned the need for a “holiday clear out.” You know, going through toys, games, and clothing and getting rid of stuff to make room for all the new stuff the family will get during the holiday season. We don’t have that problem because I am constantly clearing and [...]
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Posted in Going Green, parenting, Sustainable on Nov 1st, 2011
I have a problem, and I’m not sure what to do. Here are the details: Big Girl’s birthday was last month. When we started planning it she said she wanted to donate her gifts, but she didn’t know which charity would be the recipient this year. Then, one day she was leafing through my Parents [...]
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I was on Twitter last night checking in when I noticed an interesting hashtag: #WhoNu. For those who are uninformed: WhoNu cookies are being billed as “nutrition rich cookies.” They have, according to the manufacturer: as much Vitamin C as cup of blueberries as much iron as a cup of spinach as much calcium and [...]
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I’ve been a CSA member for a while now. (For those who don’t know what CSA stands for: Community Supported Agriculture. The real definition: Boxes of local organic veggies appear weekly in my garage.) I love it and I hate it. I love it because, hey have you ever tried a sweet potato that was [...]
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For a little kid, Little Girl has a big memory. She’s been talking about Halloween since July. “I wanna be ‘arina,” she told me. (Translation: She wanted to dress up like the Marina character on Fresh Beat Band.) “And Daddy will be Shout and you can be Kiki.” Hmmm. Okay, so right away I started [...]
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Growing up, I lived in a house with a huge (for Long Island) backyard. It was a stretched pentagon-shaped piece of property 60 feet across in the front but about 300 feet across in the back. It went back at its deepest 250 feet deep, and the house wasn’t big so there was a wide [...]
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