How easy would it be if Little Girl wanted to be a flower? Oh, well, another costume to add to the swap, right?

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 looking for a Marina costume. There aren’t any! What’s the deal, Nick Jr.?!?

After much discussion with the craftiest people I know (my friend Shari and my sister Kim), I had a plan. I would make a Marina costume. But then I took Big Girl shoe shopping at Marshall’s. We spotted the rack of costumes the moment we got in the door. The girls wanted to take a look, so we walked back. There, in the middle of the princesses and Red Riding Hood dresses, was a cute little monkey costume. Little Girl shrieked, “I wanna be a monkey!” What about Marina, I asked? No, she insisted, now she wanted to be a monkey. I looked at the price tag. $34.99. And it was a size 3T. We’d get one wear out of it. Nope, we were not getting that monkey costume. This weekend, Little Girl decided she wants to be Abby Cadabby. I just threw my hands up in the air and told her we’d get something as Halloween got closer.

Since I really don’t want to add yet another costume to my already full costume box, I’ve decided to try and participate in National Costume Swap Day, which will take place on Saturday, October 8. Here’s what it is, in a nutshell: Everyone who brings a new or gently-used costume to a local event gets to leave with a new-to-them costume. There are plenty of benefits: since you aren’t buying a new costume, there’s less waste to go into landfills, there’s huge cost savings, and everyone gets to enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

As of today there are no costume swaps on Long Island. I’m about to change that. I am waiting for confirmation on a location but…OMG, I can’t believe I am trying to do this…I am going to host a swap in my town. More details to come.

In the meantime, if you haven’t purchased your own costume you may want to check out the ever-growing list of swaps. Maybe there’s one in your area? Since there are some pretty big sponsors behind it — Green Halloween, Swap.com and Kiwi Magazine — it’s sure to build as we get closer to the event date.

Big Girl is on a soccer team. Back when she first joined, we ordered her uniform at the local soccer shop. When my husband went to pick it up, he was informed that the shop was out of shorts. It was fine, though, because it was pretty cold by that time. She just wore leggings along with one of the two flimsy shirts that we ended up buying. The season went on and I must admit that I just forgot about picking up the shorts. It was a low priority. Still, a uniform is a uniform so when the next season started, I went back to the store to buy the shorts. The shop, which is only open Monday through Saturday from 10 to 6, was out of them again. Again! I made two additional attempts and decided it wasn’t worth it. Then came spring season.

This Sunday I sat watching all the kids running around. Big Girl was the only child on the field who wasn’t wearing those stupid shorts. Feeling like a horrible mommy, once the game was over I grabbed the baby — not remembering that the place was closed on Sundays– and went over to the shop. Ten minutes later I stood in front of that locked door muttering under my breath. There had to be a better way.

Driving home I passed a garage sale. I decided to jump out and look around. I walked through the boxes of dolls, books, and toys but didn’t see what I needed: the pair of size small maroon shorts with the little Nike swoop on the leg. I saw the homeowner sitting there, though, with his two little girls and figured it was worth a shot. “Excuse me, you don’t happen to have any soccer shorts for sale?” The guy turned to his daughters, who appeared to be a few years older than Big Girl and repeated my question. One of them jumped up and went inside. Two minutes later she was standing there holding a new-looking pair of soccer shorts with the little swoop on the leg. I was excited but cautious. How much, I wanted to know. I couldn’t beat the price: $2, and he would throw in the five paperback books, a Cooties game, and the Polly Pocket house I had been carrying around. Score!

I lugged my spoils home and spread them out on the table. My husband was incredulous. Only I could go out to a garage sale and come home with what I was looking for, he said. But I disagree. I think anyone can go on their own treasure hunt and come up a winner. If we want or need something, chances are someone else has needed or wanted that same thing at some point in time. There is someone out there who owns what you need and they’re probably looking to get rid of it. Maybe not for $2, but for a price.

So I say, as someone who saved $30 and all the environmental costs associated with buying new, it’s worth asking around for what you want. Try Craigslist, Freecycle.org, garage sales, consignment shops, your neighbors, your friends, eBay. You never know unless you try, right? (And FWIW: The shorts fit Big Girl fabulously, and she loves her new books and toys, too.)

What’s your best used buy? Where do you shop when you don’t want to spend a lot of money?

It’s Saturday, so I’m not going to write a long blog. I’m sure you don’t want to read a long blog. But I did want to put this out there: Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is great. But while we’re at it how about fostering some love and concern for our earth? Jamie says he wants real, unprocessed food, but where are we going to grow that food if we keep polluting our waterways and killing our ground with plastic and chemicals like Bisphenol A (BPA), which NEVER go away. Never.

So on this Saturday evening I say can we take it to the next level? While we’re teaching those kids to love what is found in nature, how about we show them that it’s important to protect nature. We must find a way to eat while at the same time avoiding waste. Kids should be recycling and — if they have to use disposables — they should be using more earth-friendly options. Companies like BioSmart Packaging are a good example. But I still think that the best option is to teach kids how to go completely green by using metal utensils and ceramic plates and cups like they do in Nashville or some of the other schools that have taken the waste-free lunch challenge.

Because the real revolution is more than just eating the right foods. The real revolution keeps our bodies and our environment clean and healthy.

Hope you’re having a good weekend! How does your school handle the environmental issue of food service? Would you consider advocating for a waste-free cafeteria?

Why do I always get weird injuries?

Anyone who has been reading for a while knows that when I get hurt it’s usually in some weird, obscure way. Something that prompts an insurance letter being sent out. The letters always want to know if someone else is responsible for the injury. Because hey, how else could you get a black eye and contusions or a cut on your chin unless someone actually hurt you? I had another wacky accident yesterday, one that will probably result in another letter.

I have been working non-stop so I decided I would go to half of a mommy-and-me class with Little Girl. The place is right up the block. I could hang out for 30 minutes, I thought, and make it back in time for my noon conference call. So I get there, and we were doing circle time sitting on the floor. Little Girl, like most of the kids, was getting on and off my lap. At one point, she runs away from me. On her way back, she trips. I put my arms out to catch her, and her two front teeth met my thumb. I knew instantly we had a problem. Her teeth sliced my thumb open. Blood gushed. I picked Little Girl up and carried her out while holding my thumb airborne as not to drip and blood on the kid. She (and her teeth) is fine, thank goodness, and was able to go right back into the class with my mom, who was in the waiting room. But I was a different story. I ended up in front of a doctor getting liquid stitches and steristrips. So today’s Favorite Things is going to be short and sweet. My thumb is still throbbing. I can’t use it to type, and I have three more conference calls today. Sigh. So here, in an abbreviated format, are my favorite things of the week.

Clif Z Bar for Kids. I won a prize in a Twitter party. (Thanks, @Healthy_Child) Part of it: 20 of the chocolate chip variety. Yum. Big Girl loves them, too, so it’s given me another snack option for her lunch box.

ThredUP. I hate throwing clothing away. I hate buying it new, too, especially for the kids. This new site is part eBay, part Craigslist, part Freecycle. You go on, put a “box” of clothing up, and someone will claim it. And you can do the same. All you pay is the shipping on the clothing you’re claiming. Everyone wins. Clothing is reused. You don’t spend a fortune. Love, love, LOVE this, and plan on trying it out this weekend.

MatterofTrust.org I love using surplus in an innovative way. Who knew that human hair from the floors of salons could be reclaimed and reused for oil spills and oil slicks? But it can. This organization helps collect human hair and get it out in the field when there is an oil spill. They also do a ton of eco-education. Ask your salon if they are participating in the program. It’s worth it.

That’s it for now. I’m going to try and add two more things by late Friday. Have a great weekend in the meantime!

I pulled through the racks while she stood there asking questions. “But WHY is it called Once Upon,” she wanted to know. I looked over at her. She looked like she wanted to bolt out of the place. I explained the origins of the name, which seemed to quiet her. Then we went into the dressing room/bathroom.

“Ewww,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “It smells in here. Like bathroom.” I looked at the four pairs of jeans we had chosen– two brand, spanking new with the tags still on, the other two crisp and clean like they had never been worn. She was right. The room we were in smelled like bathroom, but it didn’t affect the clothes, right? The clothing was beautiful. Quietly, I handed the pile to her and asked her to try them on. She took them, sitting down, and said she didn’t want her feet to touch the floor of the STINKY bathroom. Still, she tried on the four pairs of jeans. Two fit. Two did not.

She started talking again. “This one is $4.40. This one is $5.40. Okay, so how much does that add up to?” She put her finger to her chin as she did the calculations in her head. “That comes to $9.80,” she decided. She was right. But at retail, I explained, we’d pay far more. For jeans she might get another six or eight months out of. One pair that fit was from The Gap. We would have paid $35 had we bought them brand new. The other was from The Children’s Place. They would have been a little better — $16.50. $12 each if we bought two pair. We were saving more than $40 by shopping a consignment store. Plus, we were reusing and keeping perfectly good clothing out of a landfill. AND we weren’t buying new, so we were making less of an impact on the Earth. I knew she’s talked about these things in school, so I figured I’d win her over. I guess she didn’t care too much because at that point, she just wanted to get to the next stop on our list, which was the library. She handed me the jeans that fit and asked to go. We paid for our purchases, and headed off to find new reading material.

I knew the first time I set foot into that store it would only be a matter of time before she would start balking at used items. As a child I would have been right there with her. Although we were what would have be considered needy, I always got new clothing. In September and then at Christmas time and my birthday. My mom shopped at Sears and JC Penney’s. We didn’t get a lot. Looking back, I wish my mom would have had a Once Upon a Child so I could have worn the same kind of designer duds the other kids in my school were always decked out in. Even garage sale clothing would have been welcome. Little Girl, for example, has a few very, very expensive-looking outfits that I paid $.50 for. But my mom was too proud, I guess.

Not everyone was, though. To this day I cringe when I remember one of the girls from my sixth grade class coming in and telling us that her new outfit was from a garage sale. She got an entire shopping bag full for a dollar, she said. I remember with great clarity wrinkling up my nose just like my daughter did in that store and asking that poor girl flat out why she would wear used clothing. I think I may have even used the word “gross.” (If that girl is reading: I am so sorry about that, and the funniest part is you were probably dressed a lot nicer than I was at the time.)

Once the girls went to bed I recounted the story of the shopping trip to my husband. He agreed with me, saying that it is foolish to spend a lot of money on children’s clothing when they outgrow it so quickly. But he also had some good advice: Maybe Big Girl should stay home when I go shopping there from now on. She can come with me on my infrequent mall trips, but she doesn’t need to know where every cool new outfit hanging in her closet comes from. He’s right, of course. Unless she asks, I’m not telling her.

Do you consignment shop? Garage sale? What’s your best buy? Do you shop for yourself or just your kids. I’d love to hear about it.

Take wrapping paper. What’s it made of? Paper, of course. Paper like your old newspaper. Paper like the printer mistakes you recycle. Paper like your junk mail. You can recycle it by simply tossing it in with your regular paper recycling bin. The one exception: Foil wrapping paper, which should go into the regular trash.

There’s other waste, too. We open lots of cans of stuff, empty bottles of stuff, too. In the hustle and bustle of the day it might seem easier just to toss it in the trash. However, if you take the time today to bring your recycling bin into the garage (or place it outside the backdoor), it will be a lot easier to recycle and less tempting to trash. And how about all the packing materials and cardboard you will inevitably find hanging around the house? Get rid of cardboard with your regular newspaper recycling. (Yes, all those doll and truck boxes, too!) Packing peanuts and bubble wrap find a second life at places like Mail Boxes Etc. or the UPS Store. You can find the closest place that accepts both at the Plastic Loose Fill Council’s Web site, where you can find a Drop Off Center search right on the front page.

And there you go! Off to my sister’s house now. Hope everyone who is celebrating has a happy and healthy Christmas. Those of you who have celebrated already, or will celebrate next month have a few fun days off. Enjoy!