A more healthy/green 1st birthday!

We just finished surviving putting together our very first child's birthday party - Little Sir turned one year old last week!

Lately we have been working very hard to stay within our monthly budget, so I was determined to put together a fun and eco-friendly first birthday party on a budget!

Here are some things I did to save money while being mindful of our health and the environment:

• Our friends Bret and Rebecca's daughter Isolé had her first birthday a few weeks earlier and they were kind enough to let us reuse napkins and tablecloths from her party! Also the "1" birthday candle!
• Plates were from Whole Foods made of recycled paper, and also reused plates from Isolé's party
• I bought 10 bottles of bubbles for the kids to play with at Party City for 60 cents apiece 
• I did forget cups but my parents went and picked up some paper ones at the grocery store - no plastic!
• Utensils - spoons and forks - also from Whole Foods made of biodegradable corn.
• Hebrew National hot dogs and buns from Costco - not exactly good for you, but contained no HFCS or PHO's (trans fats). We also bought a HUGE 5 lb. bag of cheese,  and were able to pass on the extra to one of our friends who attended, for a get-together taking place at their house later this week.
• I made the cupcakes myself from Kroger-brand cake mix, which has no HFCS or trans fats. The icing I made from scratch out of butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar.

Location: The party was held at a small park near our house, even though it rained periodically - we were under the park pavilion. This is a cost-effective alternative to having it at our house because it provided activities for the kids and it was free! Some parks do charge to reserve a pavilion, but since Richardson is small city and this is one of the smaller parks, there was no fee and no reservation required. The added bonus of an outdoors party is that when the baby smashes the cake, if cake falls to the ground - who cares?!

Happy first birthday, Little Sir!

Books: The Weight of Silence and The Help

I recently read two excellent books which I would highly recommend!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
You might have seen this book on all kinds of bestseller lists, etc, and for a good reason! It is a compelling read about the culture and relationship between black maid/nanny workers ("help") and their female employers in the Jim Crow South shortly before the Civil Rights movement. A young single woman decides to take a chance and write a book from the perspective of the "help" and faces challenges convincing the maids of her closest friends to participate by being interviewed, having to do it all in secret, due to the possible repercussions. The book she is supposedly writing reminded me of a real book I read a while back, Drylongso by John Langston Gwaltney, which was a series of interviews of African Americans in the 70's, I think. Also a very good book which I would recommend.

The Help was a captivating story about the dangers of living in the deep south and wanting to tell the truth, but being unable to do so. And when the characters took the risk...they way it affected them.

I am not one to go on and on about racial injustice in the past, but I am always somewhat ashamed reading about the Jim Crow south. Like I still feel bad about what our ancestors did. Even if my family is not actually southern (my parents came here from Pennsylvania and North Dakota in the 70's), I still feel responsible that as humans, people let this kind of stuff happen. And it's not like northerners were all that much better, I think.

Anyway. A good book.

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
I was seriously addicted to this book. I got the audio version, and I went around with my headphones in for like 2 days until I got through the whole thing! It's kind of a mystery, you aren't sure for most of the book what is going to happen to the lost girl or what happened to the other lost girl. But I think what I found most engaging was the characters! They were just so well written and complex that you could imagine them doing any number of things and you just didn't know which way the story was going to go.

The ending was really satisfactory without sacrificing the integrity of the characters. Not all of it ended the way you want, but the loose ends were tied up. I think what impressed me the most is the resolution of the conflict at the end without making it seem fake.

If you are looking for a good read that will keep you engaged and have a nice, satisfactory ending, I would recommend this one!

High Fructose Corn Syrup: my take

In my post about all the drama in the blogosphere lately, I mentioned the big ol' ruckus that is going on right now with the Corn Refiner's Association and their wooing of bloggers to try to take away the stigma against high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). A blogger for whom I have the greatest respect (and was able to meet at BlogHer2010!), The EcoChic, asked me to go into a little more detail about HFCS.

I've done a little research to list some links to articles and studies in support of the following facts about high fructose corn syrup. As you can tell, I have NOT been talking to the Corn Refiner's Association.

Health aspects:

• It is difficult to get "real" facts about HFCS.
  The Corn Refiner's Association has recently launched massive PR campaigns stating that HFCS is "natural" and "no worse that sugar". I would like to point out that arsenic is also natural. So is belladonna. But we shouldn't eat 145 lbs of those things every year by hiding them in all our food in doses small enough to not be easily detected at the time of consumption. Which is what is done with HFCS.
  
• The study the CGA does not want you to know about.
  At Princeton University, a study was done with rats that suggests there IS a difference between HFCS and sugar. Rats eating less HFCS than sugar actually gained more weight.
  
• Diet sabotage: HFCS does not provide the same satiation as real sugar.
  Eating products with HFCS instead of sugar will satisfy your sweet craving, but for a shorter period time, leaving you craving more and faster. Of course, this is great for the fast food and processed food companies - including HFCS as an ingredient creates repeat buyers for their products, and sells larger boxes of products! For more information, read a detailed scientific study on this topic.
  

Political and economic aspects:

• Corn is subsidized by the government, which makes it cheap.
  Here is an article on Ending Corn Subsidies which talks a little more about the structure and history of the subsidies.  
• A Michael Pollan article section on the high price of cheap food.
  Adding HFCS and other lab-created versions of corn instead of "real" ingredients makes food cheaper, which is why companies do it. Make more food, more cheaply, increase profit. Meanwhile, the American diet is composed primarily of engineered versions of corn, with very little biodiversity.
• Very informative blog post about the history of corn-derived products.
  The point of this article for me is a question that I ask in all facets of my life as a consumer: what am I supporting with my purchase? Am I saying that a diet which is 90% derived from corn products that have been altered in some way to look like something else is OK? Or am I voting with my dollar to avoid subsidized corn as the main ingredient in my food? Companies like Jason's Deli and Starbucks respond to the vote I cast with my dollars.

There are the facts that I have. If I had to pick one link for you to click, I would suggest that you listen to this NPR report, which provides a great summary.

As you know, I am not as much of an activist as I am a conscientious consumer. I can tell you what I choose to do for our family, but honestly I will leave it up to you to decide whether you feel convicted to change your behavior or not - in this and in nearly any other area that I cover in this blog.

I do avoid HFCS in pretty much all products we buy. However, there are times when I choose to allow it in, say for the occasional Halloween snack, or when I crave a specific thing during pregnancy. But I don't buy a huge box of something containing HFCS. If I can buy a single serving, eat it once, and not having it hanging around as temptation, that is what I will do.

What do you do? Do you have the same concerns?

Cottonwood Art Festival

It's a been a few years since we have made it to the Cottonwood Art Festival in Richardson, but since we now live only a few blocks away from Cottonwood Park and can walk to the festival, we were excited to attend again this year.

The festival is held outdoors at Cottonwood Park, which is right on the edge of the Dallas/Richardson border (and right next to the courthouse where we were married, but that is another story...). Tons of artists from all over the country attend to exhibit and sell their art. The art includes paintings and sculptures, as well as handmade jewelry, clothing, and music.

The rows of artist booths are placed on the green grass and have wide passageways that easily accommodate strollers and pedestrians, as well as having regularly placed patio chairs and pavilions for sitting and resting. Here is Little Sir viewing some sculptures and being pushed down and aisle with Daddy:


Of course, the park is big and there are plenty of places to sit down and rest. We spent a while on a grassy hill and then stopped to drink a bottle near the pond with the ducks.

As promised and in a nod to the pro-babywearing campaign going on right now, here's a shot of Christian wearing Little Sir in the Ergo - he gets restless in his stroller and he's so heavy that the back-carry is the easiest and the most fun for him!

In addition to art, there is plenty of food! I will admit that half the reason I go is for the funnel cake and other fair-like food. Christian enjoys a giant hot dog...

If you want to be a little more high-brow about the food you're eating, there is also a cafe area with outdoor tables next to the live music pavilion.

Across the pond from the cafe is the children's area, ArtStop. Little Sir was too young to participate in the arts and crafts, but there were plenty of blackboards to draw on and interesting shapes to run through for free.


If you wanted to spend a little money, you could go to one of the arts & craft booths where the kids can build fun crafts like crazy hats.

Overall, we always enjoy the Cottonwood Art Festival. Knowing it will be there twice a year and having the park itself within walking distance is one of the great things about Richardson!

All the Drama On the Internets

If you are one of the 10 people who read my blog, it is possible that you are a friend or family member, and that maybe you don't {obsessively} read mommy blogs, cotton diaper blogs, and green/activist blogs all day, like I do. What, you have a LIFE? Clearly, I have much less of one, and I am here to fill you in on what you have been missing lately!

An interesting fact about the part of the blogsphere I have become familiar with since attending BlogHer 2010 is that it is FULL OF THE DRAMA. Seriously. People are always getting offended by something and getting mad and starting blog/Twitter movements against such-and-such. Then the next day or the next week, it's something else. Not to be critical, but a lot of the people I follow tend to be upset about something pretty much all of the time. I do applaud them for wanting to motivate change - that is their intention. Honestly, though, I just don't have the time or mental energy to be annoyed with all these different things constantly. Which is why you do not see me blogging about them. I do watch what is going on, much like people watch reality TV. It's just fascinating!

In the last week, several controversies have sprung up which are of interest to me because they involve things near and dear to my heart: high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), babywearing, and cloth diapering.

Two drama-inducing events that have all the bloggers up in arms:

• the recent blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of the Corn Refiners Association and their claims that HFCS is no less healthy and "natural" than sugar (I am sure you've seen the TV ads as well). Here is a blog post with a good summary (note the corn industry's response in the Comments) and another one with a nice chart.
• the CPSC's (Consumer Product Safety Commission) bulletin on the dangers of babywearing and the backlash/call to action post of one of the most popular babywearing bloggers. Some followup posts like this one which is very in-depth and this one from one of my favorite bloggers.

I'm not going to go on and on about my opinion about either of these things except to say:

• Yes, I do avoid HFCS in pretty much everything we buy. I would challenge you to find one item in my pantry or refrigerator that contains it. I think you would be hard-pressed. I realize that, in small quantities, it does not "kill" anyone, but what it does is create a craving in your body for more sweets, which cane sugar does not do. In addition, it is a corn derivative, and if you have read books by Michael Pollan, you know that probably 80% of our diet is corn as it is, and we hardly need more of that. As far as I know, Little Sir has never tasted HFCS. I know he will at some point, but I am delaying this as long as possible, for the reasons stated above.
• I baby-wore with Little Sir and we still do (see upcoming photos on this blog of us wearing him in the marvelous Ergo this weekend). I own a Moby, a Maya, an Ergo, and a borrowed Peanut Shell. I love each of them in their own way and will be wearing Baby #2 in all of them as well.

And one dramatic announcement that is all over the blogsphere, which is actually POSTIVE:

• BumGenius announced their print diapers today!

Ya'll, these (cloth) diapers are awesome! Little Sir has always worn only BumGenius and I am super excited about them now being available in prints!

So, there, you go. Have fun observing the drama.
It's more amusing than reality TV!!