Green Giveaway Friday Linky 4/29

It is Royal wedding Day! Are you watching any of the Royal Wedding coverage today? If you are, here are a bunch of green giveaways you can enter while you are watching. Have fun!

As usual, please add both your green and non-green giveaways and contests into Mr. Linky below so we can do some blog hoppin! Be sure to include the expiration date. Thanks!

You can also submit your green giveaways to me during the week for me to feature on Fridays.

The Alternative Consumer
Organic PeopleTowels 5/4

The Cupcake Bandits & Serendipity Mommy
Huge Garden Prize Pack Giveaway 4/30

Family Focus Blog
Organic Brown Rice Syrup 5/3
$150 GC Organic Clothing 5/2
Crodile Hop Game 5/2
Flanigan Farms Gift Set 4/29
SIGG water bottles 4/29

Just Another New Blog
Aussan Natural 5/9
Bale&Twine Handcrafted Soy Candle and Goat Milk Soap 5/7
Prefense Hand Sanitizer 5/3
Meet the Planets Kids' Book 4/30

Kidsumers
Eko Bear Eco-Friendly Toys (Canada only) 5/6

Look What Mom Found... And Dad Too
EcoFriendly Cashmere Nepali by TDM Scarf 4/29

The Mom Buzz
Easy Lunchbox: Cooler Tote of Choice & 4-pack of Containers 4/30

Mom's Best Bets
Xtrema Cookware 5/20
ECO Playhouse 5/05
Lifefactory Glass Bottle 4/29

New Age Mama
She has TONS of giveaways! I can't list them all, but here are a few.
Crunchy & Yummy Giveaway 5/10
Dandelion Earth Friendly Goods Giveaway 5/10
Green Town Toys Earth Day Giveaway 5/7
Frenchy Baby Organics Earth Day Giveaway 5/6
Manna Organics Giveaway 5/4

A Nut in a Nutshell
Scott Naturals Prize Pack 5/2

The Shopping Mama
thredUp PRO Memberships - 10 winners 5/4

Are Your Personal Care Products Toxic?

Have you ever taken a moment to read the ingredient label on your shampoo, lotion or makeup? Most of us haven't. If you pick it up and look at the label now, is the list of ingredients long? Are there words you don't recognize and can't pronounce. Sadly, so many personal care and beauty products out there contain toxic chemicals.

It has been about 3.5 years since I started my green journey and it all started with EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetic Database. A friend of mine had shared a link to the site and I decided to check it out. This site has a database of over 65,000 products like toothpaste, make-up, shampoo, etc. You can search for your item and it will tell you the toxicity level. Products are rated on a scale of 0 - 10, 0 being not toxic at all and 10 being extremely toxic. It also gives you a beak down of each ingredient and the concerns associated with it.

So I visited the site and typed in the baby wash that I was using on my then 6 month old twins and 2.5 year old toddler and I was floored. I want to say at that time I was using a Gerber baby wash but honestly I don't remember. Then I stared looking up other things I was using on the kids and myself and at that moment made a decision to change. One by one I started replacing our products with more natural skincare options. I started with the kids and then worked my way to me because really, no one can afford to just go out and buy all new personal care products in one shot.

For an example to show you I looked up two different baby washes. The first is Baby Magic and I selected this because the hospital where all my kids were born gave me free samples and I have used it in the past. Below that you will see Burt's Bees which I am currently using for my little guys.

So for starters the Baby Magic rates a 6 out of 10 which I do not like at all. If you click on the image you can read some of the details and you will see that there are moderate cancer concerns with this product as well as high developmental and reproductive concerns. In contrast the Burt's Bees rates a 1 which I am much more comfortable with. I was not able to fit it all in the screen shot but on the actual site if you scroll down it also breaks down the ingredients for you and rates those individually as well.

At this point you might be thinking, "So what if it is a 6? That is still better than a 10." This is true of course, there could be worse options out there. However if you think of everything you might use on your child like body wash, lotion, baby wipes, sunscreen, toothpaste and if all of those are a 6, well then all those toxins add up. I try my best to keep things on the low end of the scale but I am far from perfect. I am still struggling to find a natural, kid friendly sunscreen that I like so my current one is a 6.

Here is also a quick peak at the shampoo I used a few years ago (Biolage) versus the shampoo I am using now (Desert Essence). This is what the search results look like and you would click for more details. Obviously a 3 is not perfect, but its a huge improvement from a 7.

So my very long winded point is take the time to know what you are putting on your body and your family's body. Think about how much "stuff" we put on ourselves every day and if each of those contain toxins, it will keep adding up and the end result cannot be anything good. The Skin Deep Cosmetics Database is a great resource to use in order to get started. I am in no way telling you to throw out everything you own and by new, that is not practical nor affordable at all. With the exception of lipstick, which I wear maybe once a month, I have changed out all of my make-up, beauty products and personal care products for less toxic natural ones. But it literally took me years to do it. My suggestion would be to look everything up and start replacing the most toxic ones first. Is it completely overwhelming? Absolutely. But it can be done and even changing out just one of your products is a step in the right direction.

Now I challenge you to go look up at least one of the products that you use regularly and comment on how it scores. Maybe either myself or another reader can suggest a safe alternative for you. :)

The Royal Wedding: Will You Be Up Early to Watch?

There has been no escaping the build up to the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The media coverage has been beyond extensive. But until last week I never actually thought about watching the wedding. Then my husband informed me that PBS will be airing the BBC's live coverage starting at 3:00 AM EST on Friday morning, April 29, and that he will be getting up to watch it. My husband is a history junkie so he wants to see the ceremony and all of the pageantry. So I told him to wake me up and I will watch it with him.


Official engagement photo by Mario Testino.

Then I started thinking more about it and I may take that back. Do I really need to be up that early to watch it live when surely all of the networks will be showing clips of it over and over and over again for who knows how long? Or I could even just hop onto my iPhone and watch parts of it on YouTube whenever I want. Is live really better?

So I am still torn on whether to get up with him or not. I guess a lot of it will depend on if I am able to get to bed early Thursday night, which is highly unlikely. I am jealous of you West Coasters right now since for you it will be starting around 6:00 AM. I'm usually up by then anyway.

What about you? Will you be getting up early to watch the Royal Wedding live? Will you just watch it later in the day? Or do you not even care to watch it at all?

Wordless Wednesday: New Puppy

No, we did not get a puppy. Four kids is enough for me right now. But Grammy got a super cute little Japanese Chin a few weeks ago. This is Matsui. Yes he is named after the former New York Yankee.

Green Town Toys Citadel Review, Giveaway & Discount Code

Boys are active. Boys are rambunctious. Let's face it sometimes boys are down right crazy. And I have four of them (under six). They certainly keep me on my toes all of the time. I am always on the lookout for something fun for them to do on days where bad weather forces us inside. Something other than video games. Green Town Toys makes earth friendly corrugated fiberboard toys for kids that are perfect for creative play.

"Our mission is to design and manufacture children’s products that inspire imagination, creativity, and fun. Our extensive in-house manufacturing capabilities allow us to ensure prompt delivery, competitive pricing, and unparalleled customer service. In addition, we take the utmost pride in offering sustainable products that are designed and manufactured right here in the U.S.A."

As far as sustainability, Green Town Toys is doing a great job. They have been certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, the corrugated fiberboard contains up to 42% recycled content and is 100% recyclable. In addition, all adhesives and inks used in their products are water-based, non-toxic, and 100% recyclable. So not only will your kids enjoy the toys, but this is a purchase you can feel good about. And being made here in the U.S.A is a huge plus for me.



Green Town Toys sent me and my boys The Citadel to try out. At 54.5" x 54.5", The Citadel is their largest play in toy and can fit 3-4 children. I have to admit that I was so excited to get this and could not wait to get it set up. The Citadel arrived in a fairly thin box considering how big the end product was, and all pieces were folded flat. My husband was able to put this together using their easy to follow instructions in about 35 minutes. And that is with 4 boys touching and "helping" so if he was doing it solo I feel it would have been even faster. I am impressed with the thickness and durability of the corrugated fiberboard.

Once it was all set up the boys could not wait to get inside. They can all fit in their quite comfortably and with room to play. Now, my boys love Star Wars. That might be a slight understatement. So they decided to grab all of their little Star Wars figures and line them up throughout the Citadel. We had Clone Troopers guarding the entrance and Jedi vs Sith battles in the towers. It was a lot of fun.

The Clone Troopers on the bridge.

A crazy amount of figures housed in The Citadel


The almost 4 year old twins.


The 6 year old.


And the 16 month old.


To add even more fun to this awesome toy, the walls are a blank canvas for your kids to draw on! Hand them some crayons, markers, paint, etc. and let them go to town! I have not yet broken out the art supplies as I am waiting for a good rainy day to do this. The Citadel can also be collapsed for easy storage if you don't want it sitting out all of the time. Instructions with this are included with the assembly instructions so be sure to hold on to them. We decided we are just going to leave it up in our family room all the time because it is so much fun. It has been there for 2 weeks and the boys continue to have a blast with it.

Shop
For the remainder of April, Green Town Toys is offering free shipping on any order. Plus they are giving Green Mama's Pad readers an exclusive code to save 15% off your entire order! Just use code greenmamaspad at checkout. A 15% discount plus free shipping is an awesome deal so be sure to head over and check out all of their fun toys!

Giveaway
One (1) winner will receive a Citadel from Green Town Toys!

Mandatory Entry
Who are you trying to win this for and why do you think they will enjoy it?

Extra Entries
- Visit Green Town Toys and tell me what other product of theirs you like.
- "Like" Green Town Toys on Facebook. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate. Tell them I sent you!
- "Like" Green Mama's Pad on Facebook. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate. If you leave a comment on my wall you can give yourself an additional entry.
- Share this giveaway with link on Facebook. You can do this once daily. Leave link in comment.
- Follow Green Mama's Pad publicly on Google Friend Connect.
- Subscribe to my RSS feed in a reader or subscribe via e-mail. Your email must validate or it will not count.
- Add my Green Mama's Pad button to your sidebar or add Green Mama's Pad to your blogroll. Leave your blog link.
- Follow @GreenMamasPad and @GreenTownToys on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet twice daily, at least 3 hours apart. Leave link to tweet in comment. You must have at least 50 followers. You can copy and paste the following:
#Win a @GreenTownToys eco-friendly Citadel for hours of creative fun via @GreenMamaspad. #Giveaway ends 5/10. http://bit.ly/hzwbWb
- Follow Green Mama's Pad on StumbleUpon. Worth 3 entries so leave 3 comments plus your StumbleUpon ID.
- Stumble one of my non-giveaway posts and tell me which one. Worth 2 entries so leave 2 comments with your ID.
- Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts and tell me which one.

This giveaway is open to legal US Residents 18+ only and will end on Tuesday, May 10 at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and will be posted on the Winner's Announcement Page. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. Please leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

Please note that the opinions and views expressed in this review are my own and based on my personal experience with the product and/or company. You may encounter a different experience with this than I did. I received a product free of charge for review.

Green Giveaway Friday 4/22 - Earth Day Edition!

Happy Earth Day everyone! I literally scoured blogs for hours so I could give you a huge list of green giveaways this week! And while hunting these down I of course took some time to enter a few myself. So check them out and have fun entering.

As usual, please add both your green and non-green giveaways and contests into Mr. Linky below so we can do some blog hoppin! Be sure to include the expiration date. Thanks!

You can also submit your green giveaways to me during the week for me to feature on Fridays.

The Cupcake Bandits & Serendipity Mommy
Huge Garden Prize Pack Giveaway 4/30

The Experimental Mommy
Green Town Toys Citadel 4/26

Family Focus Blog
Organic Brown Rice Syrup 5/3
$150 GC Organic Clothing 5/2
Crodile Hop Game 5/2
Flanigan Farms Gift Set 4/29
SIGG water bottles 4/29

Just Another New Blog
Prefense Hand Sanitizer 5/3
Meet the Planets Kids' Book 4/30

Look What Mom Found... And Dad Too
EcoFriendly Cashmere Nepali by TDM Scarf 4/29

Mary McKenna Siddals
5 copies of Compost Stew (picture book) 4/25
2 autographed art prints from the book 4/25

The Mom Buzz
Easy Lunchbox: Cooler Tote of Choice & 4-pack of Containers 4/30

Mom's Best Bets
ECO Playhouse 5/05
Lifefactory Glass Bottle 4/29
Organic Massage Oil 4/25
Organic Skin Exfoliator 4/25

New Age Mama
She has TONS of giveaways! I can't list them all, but here are a few.
Crunchy & Yummy Giveaway 5/10
Dandelion Earth Friendly Goods Giveaway 5/10
Green Town Toys Earth Day Giveaway 5/7
Frenchy Baby Organics Earth Day Giveaway 5/6
Manna Organics Giveaway 5/4
Endangered Species Chocolate Earth Day Giveaway 4/24
Green Beaver Earth Day Giveaway 4/23
Ecoland Earth Day Giveaway 4/23

A Nut in a Nutshell
Scott Naturals Prize Pack 4/24

The Shopping Mama
thredUp PRO Memberships - 10 winners (5/4)
Green Town Toys Playhouse (4/28)

So Easy Being Green
Bummis Swimmi ends 4.26
Baby Banz ends 4.26
Tahoe Kids Sunscreen ends 4.26
Nourish Water ends 4.26
Earth Mama Angel Baby Lotion ends 4.26
ThinkSport Sunscreen ends 4/26

Free Coffee at Starbucks on Earth Day

Every Friday for I want to say the past year, I have a date with my sister-in-law at our local Starbucks. See we both have kids close in age, we both have twins and we both just need a break some time. So for an hour and a half we sit and relax in those comfy, cushioned chairs at Starbucks. It is wonderful. (P.S. Please don't sit in our chairs unless you want to get evil stares from 2 mom's all night).



This Friday, April 22, 2011 is Earth Day and if you bring you travel mug into a participating Starbucks location (US and Canada) they will fill it for free with tea or brewed coffee. Hot or iced. If you don't own a reusable travel mug {gasp} all of theirs will be 20% off. So as a bonus for us, we get to enjoy our coffee for free this week! I'm looking forward to bringing in my stainless steel mug and filling it with some hot decaf coffee.

On side note, anytime you visit a Starbucks and are going to enjoy your coffee there, ask for a ceramic "to stay" mug instead of a paper mug. This will help reduce waste and you simply bring it back to the counter when you are finished.

Wordless Wednesday: Butterflies

I love butterflies so when I came across some of these cool photos while surfing the Internet I just had to share.







Photos courtesy of stock.xchng

Is There Pink Slime in Your Burger?

The second season of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution kicked off last week and I have to say the first episode was pretty darn good. I was a little surprised to learn that the LA school district was refusing to let him into their schools. Why? Could it be because they are serving the kids tons and tons of junk? Why yes, yes it it. Since Jamie couldn't get into the schools, he invited parents in the community to bring the school's food to them. And what they brought to him was quite simply frightening. Plastic packages of process danishes and other sweets that no kid should eat for breakfast. The parents even said that a lot of the food is heated in the plastic. Bleh.


Photo Courtesy of ABC

The biggest draw dropper for me though was Jamie's demonstration on ground beef. He explained a process used in the United States where the scraps of meet that are left are put into a centrifuge to separate the bits of meat that are left out. Those bits of meat are then washed with a mixture of ammonia and water and then ground up. Jamie calls this "Pink Slime" and meat manufacturers are allowed to mix it into the regular ground beef. The US government does not require that our meat be labeled that it has been treated with ammonia, which is just disgusting. Maybe it is just me, but I sure do not want to be ingesting ammonia. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you watch the 5 minute clip about the "Pink Slime."



I don't know about you, but that sure as hell has me questioning what is in our ground beef. Jamie suggests that the only way to know what is in it is to watch the butcher grind it himself. Well i certainly cannot afford to go to a butcher, but I am debating about buying a meat grinder and doing it myself. We eat our fair share of burgers during the summer and I would rather they not contain toxic chemicals.

What did you think of episode one and the Pink Slime? Will you be changing how you buy your ground beef?

Baked Ziti: Easy Organic Living Challenge #3: Give a Meal a Makeover

If you have been following along with my Easy Organic Living challenges, you have seen me Shift and Save and Invent a Snack. The Third challenge is to Give a Meal A Makeover, which is to take one of your traditional family meals and change at least one ingredient to organic. I decided to go with my great-grandmother's recipe for Baked Ziti. Let me preface by saying that my great-grandmother, grandmother and mother do NOT use jarred sauce. They make their own. However, I have not reached the point in my cooking career where I am making my own sauce yet, hopefully someday. So I made sure that the sauce that I bought was organic, mainly because tomatoes are in the Dirty Dozen list for containing a lot of pesticides. I chose the Nature's Promise Organic Traditional Pasta Sauce but any organic brand should do just fine. The Trader Joe's sauces are also very yummy.

Baked Ziti Recipe

Ingredients
use organic whenever possible

1 lb ziti pasta
26-32 oz jar of organic pasta sauce (I used 26 but I think 32 would be better)
1 lb ricotta cheese
1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
1 large egg
2 TBSP grated cheese (I prefer Pecorino Romano)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions
3. In medium bowl, beat egg then add ricotta cheese and grated cheese. Mix well.
4. Line the bottom of a 13x9 baking pan with a thin layer of sauce.
5. Place a single layer of cooked pasta. Should be about 1/2 the pasta.
6. Spread the entire ricotta cheese mixture on top of the pasta. Sprinkle 1/2 of your mozzarella on top.
7. Place the remaining pasta in s single layer on top of ricotta mixture.
8. Pour the rest of the sauce over the pata. Try to spread as evenly as possible.
9. Top with remaining mozzarella.
10. Cover dish with aluminum foil and cook for 20 minutes. The remove the foil and cook for 10 more minutes or until mozzarella cheese is bubbly.
11. Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes to settle.

Enjoy!

Don't forget to enter my Easy Organic Living Giveaway!

I am participating in the Easy Organic Living Blogger Challenge however I was not compensated for this post. I will be receiving a goody bag for my participation. The challenge is co-hosted by BabyCenter.com and Healthy Child Healthy World and sponsored by Stonyfield Yogurt.

In My Former Life

In my former life I had a pretty awesome job. Not only did I work with some totally amazing people, but I truly enjoyed what I did. As the Communications Director my tasks fell within a wide range of areas. My favorite areas were webmaster, web design and graphics design. Since high school I have always been interested in web and graphics. I could spend hours upon hours playing with photos and graphics in Adobe Fireworks (my favorite graphics program) and never get bored or tired of it. I love it. My passion for web design and graphics is probably what led me to blogging two years ago and I am so glad I started it.

A big part of being a webmaster at my job was obviously updating content on the company's website. This also included converting multiple Word documents to PDF and uploading them to the site. We had a lot of forms and documents posted and they would need to be updated from time to time. I only wish back then I had Adobe's new CreatePDF which makes PDF conversion that much easier.

What I miss the most about that old job are the people. I don't know that any of my former coworkers are reading but if they are, I miss you guys!

Yes in my former life I had a pretty awesome job. But it pales in comparison to my current job because there is nothing I love more than being able to stay home with my boys.

Disneynature's African Cats Book Giveaway

Last week I mentioned that Disneynature's African Cats opens on Earth Day. Although we still have just under a week till the premier, already there have been more than $1.7 million in advance ticket sales for opening week! The "See African Cats, Save the Savanna" initiative is giving a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales for that first week of April 22 - 28 to the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). That means that the $1.7 million equals more than 9,500 acres of land to be conserved within Kenya’s Amboseli Wildlife Corridor! What an awesome start, lets hope the number continues to rise.

Here is a new clip from the movie, how can anyone pass up seeing a movie with such adorable cubs!

"An epic true story set against the backdrop of one of the wildest places on Earth, “African Cats” captures the real-life love, humor and determination of the majestic kings of the Savanna. Narrated by Oscar®-nominated actor Samuel L. Jackson, the story features Mara, an endearing lion cub who strives to grow up with her mother’s strength, spirit and wisdom; Sita, a fearless cheetah and single mother of five mischievous newborns; and Fang, a proud leader of the pride who must defend his family from a rival lion and his sons. An awe-inspiring adventure blending family bonds with the power and cunning of the wild, “African Cats” leaps into theatres on Earth Day, April 22, 2011."

Giveaway
One (1) winner will receive one of each of the African Cats childrens books Sita the Cheetah and A Lion’s Pride



Mandatory Entry
What do you think sounds or looks great about the movie African Cats?

Extra Entries
- "Like" Disneynature on Facebook. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate. Tell them I sent you!
- "Like" Green Mama's Pad on Facebook. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate. If you leave a comment on my wall you can give yourself an additional entry.
- Share this giveaway with link on Facebook. You can do this once daily. Leave link in comment.
- Follow Green Mama's Pad publicly on Google Friend Connect.
- Subscribe to my RSS feed in a reader or subscribe via e-mail. Your email must validate or it will not count.
- Add my Green Mama's Pad button to your sidebar or add Green Mama's Pad to your blogroll. Leave your blog link.
- Follow @GreenMamasPad and @disneynature on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet twice daily, at least 3 hours apart. Leave link to tweet in comment. You must have at least 50 followers. You can copy and paste the following:
#Win two @disneynature African Cats childrens books via @GreenMamaspad. #Giveaway ends 4/25. http://bit.ly/enxPVs
- Stumble one of my non-giveaway posts and tell me which one. Worth 2 entries so leave 2 comments with your ID.
- Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts and tell me which one.

This giveaway is open to legal US Residents 18+ only and will end on Monday, April 25 at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and will be posted on the Winner's Announcement Page. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. Please leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

I was not compensated nor did I receive product for hosting this giveaway.

Easy Organic Living Prize Pack Giveaway

For the past several weeks I have been participating in the Easy Organic Living challenge, hosted by BabyCenter.com and Healthy Child Healthy World and Sponsored by Stonyfield Farm. Together they are showing moms how we can take simple steps to getting our families to eat more organic foods. If you have missed my first two challenges, I first did a Shift and Save and then Invented a Snack. It has been a lot of fun so far and now I need to work on Challenge 3 which is Give a Meal a Makeover. This is by far the most intimidating challenge for me. An expert chef, I am not.

If you are interested in making some organic changes to your life I encourage you to check out and join the Easy Organic Living community on BabyCenter. There you will find lots of other moms just like you, great tips and ideas plus expert advice.

Now, on to the giveaway!!



Giveaway
One winner will receive an Easy Organic Living Challenge prize pack consisting of:
• a BabyCenter reusable tote bag
• DVD: Wake-Up to 5 Easy Steps: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home
• Eric Carle Growth Chart
• one box of Nature's Path Organic Instant Oatmeal
• one box Annie's Organic Bunny Berry Fruit Snacks
• one bag of Late July Multigrain Snack Chips
• one coupons for FREE 4-pack of Stonyfield YoBaby Organic Yogurt
• one $1 off coupons for Applegate meat and deli products
• one $1 off coupon for Nature's Path product

Mandatory Entry
Tell me what organic changes you have made in your life.

Extra Entries (lots of em!)
- Join the Easy Organic Living community on BabyCenter, and either start a new post or reply to a current one. This is worth 10 entries so leave me 10 comments, plus a link to the post.
- "Like" Healthy Child Healthy World on Facebook. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate. It would be awesome if you told them I sent you!
- "Like" Green Mama's Pad on Facebook. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate.
- "Like" BabyCenter on Facebook and/or Stonyfield Farm on Facebook. One entry for each. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate. Again, feel free to tell them I sent you!
- Share this giveaway with link on Facebook. You can do this once daily. Leave link in comment.
- Follow Green Mama's Pad publicly on Google Friend Connect.
- Subscribe to my RSS feed in a reader or subscribe via e-mail. Your email must validate or it will not count.
- Add my Green Mama's Pad button to your sidebar or add Green Mama's Pad to your blogroll. Leave your blog link.
- Follow @GreenMamasPad and @Healthy_Child on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet twice daily, at least 3 hours apart. Leave link to tweet in comment. You must have at least 50 followers. You can copy and paste the following:
#Win an Organic Prize Pack courtesy of @BabyCenter @Healhy_Child @Stonyfield via @GreenMamasPad #Giveaway ends 4/30. http://bit.ly/hxbwE6
_Follow @BabyCenter and/or @Stonyfield on twitter. One entry each, leave me your Twitter ID.
- Stumble one of my non-giveaway posts and tell me which one. Worth 2 entries so leave 2 comments with your ID.
- Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts and tell me which one.

This giveaway is open to legal US Residents 18+ only and will end on Friday, April 29 at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and will be posted on the Winner's Announcement Page. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. Please leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

I was given a goody bag for hosting this giveaway but no other compensation was received. Please note that the opinions and views expressed here are my own.

Green Giveaway Friday Linky 4/15

Happy Friday! There is rain in the forecast all weekend here so I am bummed because I wanted to get outside with the kids for some Earth Week/Day activities. I hope the weather is nicer where you are. Any "green" plans?

These are some featured Green Giveaways that I have found around the blogosphere. Please add both your green and non-green giveaways and contests into Mr. Linky below so we can do some blog hoppin! Be sure to include the expiration date. Thanks!

You can also submit your green giveaways to me during the week for me to feature on Fridays.

The Cupcake Bandits & Serendipity Mommy
Huge Garden Prize Pack Giveaway 4/30

Family Focus Blog
$150 GC Organic Clothing 5/2
$25 GC Bamboo Clothing 4/20

Julie Cache
Felted Purse 4/18

Just Another New Blog
Zippity Doo's Prize Pack 4/10
Monave Lip Glaze 4/17

Look What Mom Found... And Dad Too
EcoFriendly Cashmere Nepali by TDM Scarf 4/29

Mary McKenna Siddals
5 copies of Compost Stew (picture book) 4/25
2 autographed art prints from the book 4/25

The Mom Buzz
Easy Lunchbox: Cooler Tote of Choice & 4-pack of Containers 4/30

The Shopping Mama
Bee All Natural Organic Skin Care 4/15

So Easy Being Green
Two Sweet Potatoes - Cloth Wipes ends 4/19
ThinkSport Sunscreen ends 4/26

Connecticut Earth Day Events 2011

I am hoping that we can get our boys out to attend one if not more Earth Day events this year. Two years ago we brought them to one at Beardsley Zoo and it was a lot of fun.

If you are looking for some events within your community to participate in this Earth Week and Earth Day, there are plenty out there! Many Connecticut towns are holding some type of event, try and see if you can attend at least one. Visit event sites or call for complete details including any possible fees.




Ansonia
Saturday, April 30
Earth Day Celebration
203-736-1053

Bridgeport
Saturday, April 16 & Sunday, April 17, 10:00am - 3:00pm
Party for the Planet @ Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
www.beardsleyzoo.org

Farmington
Sunday, May 1, 10:00am - 4:00pm
Earthstock Celebration
www.earthstockconnecticut.com

Fairfield
Saturday, April 30, 10:00am - 4:00pm
Fairfield’s Earth Day Celebration
FairfieldEarthDay.Wordpress.com

Greenwich
Earth Day Clean Up & Hawk Release
April 15, 2011 3:00pm - 5:00pm
www.GLTrust.org

March 18th thru April 30th
Recycle Your Old Sneakers
www.greenwichct.org/recycle

More Greenwich Earth Day events.

Middletown
Saturday, April 30, 9:00am - 11:00am
Shredfest 2011
www.cityofmiddletown.com

New Milford
Saturday, April 23, 10:00am - 4:00pm
Pratt Nature Center Earth Day 2011
www.prattcenter.org

Newtown
Saturday, April 30, 9:00am
Earth Day Celebration
www.NewtownEarthDay.org

Norwalk
Saturday, April 23, 10:00am - 2:00pm
Earth Day Celebration at Stepping Stones Museum
www.SteppingStonesMuseum.org

Ridgefield
April 27, 30 & May 1
"Rotting Right in Ridgefield” Composting Lecture Series
GoGVI.org /GoPracticallyGreen.com

Stamford
Tuesday, April 19 - Thursday, April 21
Stamford Museum & Nature Center’s “Take a Hike” Week
www.StamfordMuseum.org

Storrs
Thursday, April 21, 11:00am - 2:00pm
Earth Day Spring Fling at UConn
www.ecohusky.uconn.edu/earthday.htm

Stratford
Saturday, April 30, 9:00am to 4:00pm
Habitat for Humanity ReStore’s Green Fair
www.FairfieldCountyRestore.org

Washington Depot
Roadside Cleanup / Earth Day Celebration
Saturday, April 16. 9:00am - 2:00pm
www.wec-ct.org

Westport
Saturday, April 30, 11:00am - 4:00pm
Green Earth Fair Held in Westport
www.Earthplace.org

Wilton
Thursday, April 28, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Bill McKibben, Author Talk on Earth
www.RaceForTheEarth.com

Sunday, May 1, 11:00am - 4:00pm
Wilton Go Green Festival
www.WiltonGoGreen.org / www.RaceForTheEarth.com

Wordless Wednesday: Soaring Gas Prices

W.T.F.? are the only words that come to mind this week.



OK, I lied. I have two more words: RENEWABLE ENERGY!

A Glimpse at Elementary School Lunches

With the season 2 premiere of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution airing tonight, I thought it would be appropriate to take a look at an actual school lunch menu. Below is the menu for our district's elementary schools her in Connecticut. Our three elementary schools house grades PreK through 3, however only grades 1 - 3 are there for lunch. This may start to include kindergarten in the future as we are hoping to have an all-day program start next year.

Click image to view full size.

At first glance it might not look so bad. You might be thinking - "Hey, I see whole wheat rolls and vegetables on there! Chill out lady!" But let me tell you what I see:

April 1: Stuffed Crust Pizza - Frozen not fresh and highly processed.
April 5: Chicken Patty on Whole Wheat Roll - Over-sized, frozen, processed chicken nugget on processed bread that just happens to be whole wheat.
April 7: Baked Fillet of Fish on Whole Wheat Roll w/ Baked Potatoes Rounds - Frozen, processed fish and processed potatoes.
April 11: BBQ Ribs on Whole Wheat Roll: I can't even begin to imagine what is in the BBQ sauce. HFCS is extremely likely. And they sure do like those whole wheat rolls.

I could go on but I think you get my point. Now don't get me wrong, there are some great things in there. You'll notice that "Farm Fresh Veggie" is listed and that is in thanks to our Farm to School program. And they do have some kind of vegetable and fruit in there every day. But the rest of it is just processed junk. If you took all of these and made them fresh then there would be no issue. However the fact of the matter is that schools in the United States are buying boxes upon boxes of processed foods and that is what they are feeding our kids.

Here is an even scarier image, at least for me. Underneath the school menu on our's school site it listed something for "Visual Lunch Menu". I had no idea what that meant so I clicked on it to see. Basically it is the menu but with a picture to accompany the description. I'll let you take a look for yourself.

Click image to view full size.

Aside from the salads and vegetables mixed in there, the rest of it looks like a menu at a fast food restaurant! How many variations of breaded, processed chicken can we have? Chicken patty, chicken tenders, popcorn chicken... enough already! Just because it says "baked" does not mean it is healthy. It is one thing to occasionally eat the processed meal, we do it too. But to have your kids eating this stuff day after day is not healthy.

I currently have three children at the elementary school: two in PreK and one in Kindergarten. Right now they do not even eat lunch at school, just a snack, but starting next year my oldest will. As it stands right now I will NEVER have my kids purchase the school lunches, even though we most likely qualify for a discount. Sure I'll be the crazy strict parent who sends in the PB&J, fresh fruit salad and diced cucumber with humus, but I am OK with that. I hope to start experimenting with bento style lunches to keep it interesting, we shall see.

OK, enough with my ranting, I want to know what YOU think. Are the school lunches in your area similar to ours? Worse? Better? What kind of lunches do you send to school for your kids? Talk to me!

Battling RSV. Again.

My youngest boy will be 16 months old next week. When he was just 3 weeks old he was admitted to the hospital with RSV. It was absolutely the most terrifying experience of my life. While I know that RSV is common and many babies get through it just fine, those are not the stories that you hear about. Unfortunately, you always hear about the tragic stories. As you can imagine, those 3 days in the hospital and the weeks following were nerve racking. It took about a month for his lungs to fully clear up.

Last week myself, the twins and the little man all came down with a wicked cold. No fevers but really thick, hoarse coughs and congestion. Saturday morning I decided to bring the baby to the pediatrician just to be safe. I could hear some slight wheezing and with his RSV history, I wanted them to listen to his lungs. Babies who get RSV so young are predisposed to respiratory infections and asthma.

For some reason the thought never crossed my mind that this would be RSV again. However, that is exactly what the doctor said he had. At his age there is much less concern, however all those emotions from that scary time last year came flooding in. Why did my baby have to go through this all again? The positive was that his oxygen levels were 100% which is great. I left with instructions to keep an eye on him and bring him back in 2 days.

I brought him back in to be rechecked. His oxygen is still great at 99% and he really has not changed much. This is good news because its around this time that he would have been worse if it was going to happen. So now its just nurturing him till he gets this nasty thing out of his system. Unfortunately RSV lingers for about 2-3 weeks. This is where breastfeeding really comes in handy for us because when he is sick an clingy, nursing always makes him feel better.

I must say that I hope I never have to deal with those 3 letters again. I hate them.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Season 2

I absolutely loved the first season of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution! It is about time that people realized that what we are eating is killing us and I hope that this paves the way for big changes. But I feel like we have been waiting forever for Season 2 and I was even getting worried that the show was done. Thankfully, it is finally back!

In the first season, Jamie spent time working with a school district to try and get more wholesome foods into the cafeterias. He was met with boxes upon boxes of processed foods, tight budgets and down right stubbornness which created quite the challenge. He never gave up though and by the time he was done I think he made some real progress. I hope they will show us how those schools are doing now and if they kept up with the healthy meals. If you missed Season 1, you can catch up on Hulu.

A little bit about Season 2:

"Jamie is still asking questions about the quality of school meals, and asks LA’s parents for support to challenge the LAUSD to do better. He cooks with LA teens and uses a science class to get them thinking about what’s in their food. They tell him they’re scared for their families – they’re sadly at risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease because of the processed food they’re eating. He also dips into the powerful world of fast food and industrial ingredients."

They have also put together a new website, www.jamiesfoodrevolution.com, with lots of great tools for you to become a part of the revolution! You can sign Jamie's petition, search for healthy recipes, and download toolkits to get the revolution started in your own community.

By the way, Jamie and I have a history. See back in March, through his site I submitted a letter to Congress about changing what our kids eat and then I tweeted about it. Jamie then retweeted my tweet! We are BFFs now, I tell you! (Shush, I know it was a member of his staff).



Seriously though, I am really looking forward to this season. After watching Jamie be able to change the minds of the food service staff at those schools, I'm anxious to see what he can accomplish this time around. I am so hopeful that people will watch this show and become more educated about what we are eating and start to demand higher standards. While I am by no means perfect nor am I a great cook, it saddens me to see how much processed food people consume. Lets get our children eating fresh, whole foods and kick that other crap to the curb.

Season 2 of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution premieres this Tuesday, April 12 8/7c on ABC. I hope you watch it!


Socialize with Jamie & The Food Revolution
Twitter: @FoodRevTeam
Twitter: @JamieOliver
Facebook: Food Revolution Community
Hashtag: #FoodRevolution