Green Tip: Stop Your Phone Book Delivery

We arrived home from church today to discover a plastic bag and a new phone book in our driveway. It is five pounds of wasted paper that we no longer use. All the info in the phone book is readily available and more likely to be current on-line.

I had recently read something about a new website you can use in the United States to register to stop unwanted phone book deliveries: yellowpagesgoesgreen.org.

This organization is not associated with any phone company, but will contact companies in your area on your behalf for free if you register with them. There is currently no national opt-out system for phone book deliveries. Registering with them will not guarantee that the carrier will actually stop tossing a phone book in your driveway, but it's a step in the right direction in getting the companies to implement a better opt-out system.

It is estimated that about 500 million phone books are delivered the U.S. every year. That's about two for every person. It is also estimated that only about 10% of these get recycled and most never even get used.

If you do not use your phone book at home or at work, please take a minute to register and help your environment.

TODAY'S SPECIAL

Big, beautiful, baroque pearl earrings are on special this week only.  Classic and eyecatching with their baroque banding and oval shape.

Were $22.  This week $17.

Baroque pearl earrings

Earth Hour 2009

This Saturday, March 28, 2009 will be the third annual Earth Hour sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund.

Earth Hour began just two years ago in Sydney, Austrailia when 2.2 million participants turned off their lights for 1 hour. Last year this event went global with 50 million participants. This year the goal is 1 billion participants worldwide!

To participate, turn off your lights at 8:30 PM for one hour local time. That's all. There are no hard and fast rules.  

Earth Hour organizers suggest filling that hour with activities like having a picnic in the park with your family, viewing the stars in your backyard, telling stories, taking a candlelit bath or organizing a candlight game night. You might just find you are having so much fun you won't want to flip those lights back on at 9:30!

You can learn more about this by visiting the official Earth Hour Website.

If you intend to participate I'd love to have your comments on what you are planning ☺

Refrigerator Organizing Tips

I enjoy household tips that make life a little easier and hope to share some with you over the next few months. Today I am giving you my favorite refrigerator organizing tips.

My son, Caleb, loves string cheese and I like it as a healthy snack for him. I use an extra coffee mug to put it within easy reach so the frig door doesn't stay open too long letting the cold out.

Caleb loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and wants them almost every day. I bought this plastic bin (pictured above) at a discount store and put bread, natural peanut butter (that needs refrigeration) and jars of jelly in it. Now I just grab the whole thing out of the frig when it's time to make his lunch (see photo below). You can do the same with any type of sandwich makings or the items for your morning toast or bagel. If you use sandwich bags you can store them in there too, but we like reuseable containers.

I wipe the main shelves of my refrigerator out every week to keep it clean and shiny--usually doing this right before my big grocery shopping trip when the shelves are the most empty. I rotate through cleaning the door shelves, meat and vegetable bins which don't need to be cleaned as often. I line the bins with sections of newspaper to make cleaning them a breeze. We prefer the comics section ☺ The newsprint neutralizes odors and the newspaper soaks up spills. Now I lift the newspaper out and replace it periodically instead of having to remove the bins and wash them.

Since I instigated these organization tips, my life has been just a little easier.  I hope you find them helpful.  I'd love to learn more. If you have a great refrigerator tip, please leave me a comment!

TODAY'S SPECIAL

A little something green for St. Patrick's Day

Gemstone & pearl earrings with green jade

Was $14.  This week $9.00.

My "Today's Special" changes at least weekly--usually on Tuesdays.  Check back often for the best deals!

TODAY'S SPECIAL

10% off custom, professional pearl re-stringing and beaded jewelry repair.

This week only.

Search your jewelry box for those pearls that needs re-stringing, a more convenient clasp, shortening and matching earrings made, lengthening, crystals added or for all those beaded treasures that you loved to pieces and kept just in case you could figure out how to put them back together one day. 

For more information, read my  ARTICLE

Overrun with Origami

My son, Caleb, who is only seven, developed an interest in origami a few months ago. It has become his latest obsession. My house is now covered in paper airplanes and other, increasingly elaborate, origami creations. I got him a ream of recycled copy paper for Christmas and he's working his way through it at an alarming rate. I don't even usually have to help him. He can figure out the complex origami instructions from books better than I can. He's too impatient to make the folds very sharp, but he sure loves his origami.

Caleb's desk with his creations for one week.

Frog origami that actually jumps when you press on it's back

Flying box and diamond shape

blue lobster

photos used with permission of the artist ☺

TODAY'S SPECIAL

Pearl and jade scissors fob for large scissors

Was $14.50.  Now only $10.50

This week only.  One available.  Great gift for a seamstress!

Check in frequently for my "Today's Special."  I usually change it on Tuesdays or more often.

My First Treasury!

On Etsy.com they have a feature called a Treasury. Members can curate a treasury from all the items available on Etsy. It's a little difficult to get a treasury slot as they are limited, but I finally got one!  It will disappear on March 3 to make room for new treasuries.

View my Treasury on Etsy

One of these days I really am going to buy those handmade marshmallows in the first photo and that print with the eggs in a bowl!

My Etsy.com Shop