Being Green At Christmas

Christmas is a season of excess and not very good on the environment. But there are ways to enjoy the yule tide with out overdoing your "footprint".

1) Buy a live tree and then plant it in your yard when Christmas is over. Not only will you save tree, but you'll improve the environment (trees are the earth's lungs) and have a wonderful reminder of the holiday for years to come. If you do cut down a tree, take it to a tree-cycler center that can turn the tree into chips and mulch.

2) Use low energy Christmas lights to decorate your home and tree. Did you know that your Christmas lights may be costing you an additional $100 on your energy bill! That is according to Christmas Lights and Decorations. Get LED lights and light bulbs to save on your pocket book and the environment. Apparently they are safer too.

3) Don't light up 24/7. Still on the topic Christmas lights, turn your lights on only when you're home and for just a few hours a day. Turn them off when you leaven your home and when you go to bed.

4) Reuse Christmas paper, ribbons and cards. Regifting is considered a no-no, but its okay to reuse old wrapping paper, ribbons and cards. Christmas cards can be used as postcards, gift tags, or decoration.

5) Be creative. Instead of wrapping paper, use an environmentally beneficial alternative such as the comics, old posters or wallpaper scraps. Or create a package such as using a gift basket, or put kitchen items in a dish towel or oven mitt, or jewelery in a jewelery box.

6) Choose recycled items. If you are going to buy Christmas cards and paper, choose recycled ones.

7) Don't use throw away plates, napkins and spoons for your holiday parties. Or if you do, choose biodegrable products made from recycled content.

8) Keep the car tuned up and tire pressure normal to have a safe and energy effecient trip to visit family.

Hiding the vegies...why didn't I think of that???

The other day, like many moms, I watched Jessica Seinfeld promote her book, Deceptively Delicious . The book offers recipes that include pureed vegies that can't be detected by kids. It seems too easy, but hallelujah it works! My kids have eaten cauliflower, butternut squash and spinach...without knowing it. My kids are 13 and 10 and given a choice, eat only from three basic food groups: pizza, chicken nuggets, macs and cheese. When I force vegies on them, I can only get them to eat a few baby carrots or yellow squash...maybe.

Since getting the book, I made chocolate granola bars with spinach (its the blueberry bars in the book, but I used chocolate), added squash to macs and cheese, and tonight included cauliflower and sweet potato in homemade chicken and rice soup. And they ate it and liked it! Better yet, I didn't have to bug them about eating their vegies.

I do include regular vegies as a side and make them eat them. But I don't have to worry about the one bite they take because I know they are getting other vegies covertly.

The planning and having ready-made puree is a hassle. I don't like planning or hassles, but I'm hopeful that I can keep this up so I can know that my kids are getting some extra nutrients they weren't getting before.

I also see another book... The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine that has the same strategy. I may get that as well. It never hurts to have more recipes!

Leaders are Readers

Talk to someone who is living the life you'd like to live, and odds are they are an avid reader of non-fiction business and improvement books. Reading books is important for several reasons; they offer new ideas, inspire action, and teach new ways of doing things.

How Much and When to Read:
Most success experts prescribe 15 minutes of reading every day. That's it. You can read while waiting for the bus or at the doctors office. You can read before you get out of bed or before you go to sleep.

What to Read:
That is really up to you. However, if your goal is to improve your finances and achieve abundance in your life, you should read books that cover everything from managing money, increasing motivation, improving your interpersonal skills, and books that are specific to how you will acheive those things whether its through a home business or real estate investing or something else.

How to Read:
While the act of reading is important, you should read with the intention of having it change you in some way whether its learning a new marketing technique or investment strategy. I suggest keeping a note book so you can jot down important ideas you want to remember. I also use Post-It ™ sticky tabs to mark pages I want to revisit because they have a great idea or a website I want to check out.

While I spend a fortune on books, you can easily find books at your local library that you can check out and read for free. You can often rent them on audio cassette or CD so you can listen during your commute to work.

My book recommendations:

Goals/Success/Motivation

Write It Down Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It by Henriette Klauser

The Success Principles by Jack Canfield (this is one of Leslie's favorite books!!)

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living Your Dreams by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hanson

Attitude is Everything – Keith Harrell (Another must read!)

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway -- by Susan

No Opportunity Wasted by Phil Keoghan

Marketing/Sales

Starting from "No": 10 Strategies to Overcome Your Fear of Rejection and Succeed in Business by Azriela L. Jaffe, Pam Lontos

Get Clients Now: A 28 Day Program – C.J. Hayden

Permission Marketing by Seth Godin

Guerilla PR Wired – Michael Levine

Elements of Copywriting by Robert Bly

Ultimate Guide To Google AdWords by Perry Marshall and Bryan Todd

Leadership

If You Lead, They will Follow – Patrick Higgins

The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow by John C. Maxwell

Developing the Leader Within You Workbook by John C. Maxwell

Organization/Productivity

Ready for Anything - David Allen (offers 52 short tips for improving productivity and saving time)

Getting Things Done – David Allen

Organize from the Inside Out – Julie Morgenstern

Financial Advice

Start Late, Finish Rich by Davic Bach -

The Finish Rich Workbook – David Bach

All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi

Making the Most of Your Money – Jane Bryant Quinn

The Millionaire Maker: Act, Think, and Make Money the Way the Wealthy Do by Loral Langemeier

Tired? Headaches? Brain Fog?

I think if you're a mom it goes without saying that fatigue, headaches and brain fog are a part of the lifestyle. I thought it was the kids. Turns out its probably the housework!

Environmental Medicine Specialists are getting the word out that people can be susceptible to ailments related to chemicals in the environment. You don't have to work at Dow though because there are enough chemicals in our homes to cause poisoning, allergies and even cancer! Yikes!

In the October 9, 2006 First for Women on the Go magazine is an article on multiple chemical sensitivity that reports, "Nearly 40 million women with MCS suffer from allergy-like symptoms when exposed to everyday chemicals." What chemicals you may ask? Well there is toluene which is a solvent found in cosmetics and perfume to name a few products. How about formaldehyde found in shampoos including baby shampoos. No wonder morticians don't need so much embalming fluid after we die. We ingest it throughout our lives.

Many people pooh-pooh such ideas, but think of this, in a world in which we have unprecedented technology and resources to be happier and healthier than ever, we are suffering from more cancer, new ailments like fibromyalgia (I never heard of that when I was a kid) and more. Not only that, but our children are suffering too. Children rarely had serious ailments and now they are getting cancer and asthma at unbelievable rates. Something must be contributing to these problems.

And its not like we don't know that chemicals such as tuluene, formaldehyde, phenols, dioxin (that's the stuff they sprayed in Vietnam) cause all sorts of serious problems so why be surprised that we are getting sick? They are in everything from your household cleaners, personal care products, cosmetics, furniture etc.

But you don't have to take my word for it. Here are some resources you can check on your own:

Toxic House Tour - Tour room by room to see what chemicals are lurking there.
Skin Deep - A report that discusses toxic chemicals in personal care products.
Toxic Brew - Report that talks about the link between ailments and household cleaners.

So what's the answer? Do as much as you can to get the chemicals out. Switch to eco-friendly brands of cleaning and personal care products (turns out...if its bad for the earth, its bad for you too! Go figure!). Take natural vitamin supplements especially antioxidents. Choose organic foods, and filter the water and air in your home (turns out the air inside of your home is more polluted than the air outside).

Many of these things can be found in health stores. I order mine from a store that not only offers me great prices, but also gives me credit to get free products (I get all my cosmetics free). Click here to learn more and get a free toxin report.

And you thought you had trouble getting to the gym!

Women's Health magazine September 2006 issue has an article about Nargis Shearzad who has started the first women-only gym in Kabul! "In a country where it's common for fathers to barter their daughters to pay of debts," Shearzad's father helped fund her venture. And despite continued unrest in the city, she intends to expand to 4 more locations over the next 2 years!

Thing of the real obstacles these women must overcome to workout - ridicule by Taliban supporters, lack of support by traditional husbands and family members, and injury from fighting. And we thought getting of the couch and to the gym was hard!

BTW... you can help support Shearzad's efforts. If you have a stack of old work-out DVD's you don't use, you can send them to Shearzad through:

Toni Maloney, Chairperson
Business Council for Peace
5 East 22nd Street, STE 9J
New York, NY 10010

Will You Outlive your Children?

Children born in the year 2000 or later are not expected to outlive their parents according Dr. David Katz of the Yale Preventive Medicine Research Center in New Haven, Connecticut. The reason? Poor diet.

That is really scary, but makes sense. Many foods contain additives and preservatives that weren't around when I was a kid. They may be bad for me, but having only eaten them for 20 years is different for my children who, by the time they are my age will have been eating them for a life a time.

But if your children are like mine, it is difficult to change their diet. They are picky eaters and like fast food and other "junk".

Here are some things we have done to improve our children's health and diet:

1) Make sure they have a fruit or vegetable with every meal as these are the best ways to prevent disease and illness.
2) Limit sugar.
3) Check lables and avoid 'high fructose corn syrup'.
4) Choose breads, cereals and pasta made with whole grain.
5) Don't buy any foods with trans fats. (Fortunately, this is getting easier.)
6) Eat meals together.
7) Have them participate in at least one active activity such as soccer, karate, etc.
8) Discuss healthy eating choices.
9) Give them a multi-vitamin.
10) Pack lunch instead of buying at school.

Avoid Deception in Home Based Business Opportunities

Avoid Deception in Home Based Business Opportunities