And the sophomore...

and the youngest's first day of 10th grade...

Last first day of school

Ok so today was my daughter's last first day of school. She's a senior this year. As she went off to school this am. I was paying the application fee for one of her college applications.

Wellness #41 - Going Green - Part 2

The first thing I did before I even read what the exercise was going to be was to follow the link to sign up to stop junk mail. For Val-Pak Coupons: it tell you to "click the link and fill out the form - easy, but don't give them your email address" - The only way to do this is to put in a fake email address - I used the infamous trashcan@email.com

As far as things we have done at our house just this year that contribute to a greener lifestyle, we purchased a new furance and airconditioning unit for both upstairs and downstairs complete with programmable thermostats, a new hot water heater, and I purchase the compact fluorescent light bulbs as often as possible (when the light fixture will accomodate the bulb and shade without problems). I thought when I first started purchasing these bulbs that they lasted longer in addition to saving energy however it doesn't seem to me that they are lasting significantly longer than a regular bulb. I do like the cleaner Simple Green and have used baking soda to clean my cooktop for as many years as I've been cleaning. I still prefer Windex to any window cleaner you can make yourself. Speaking of making things yourself though I did make my own baby wipes and used cloth diapers for both my kids which even then was almost unheard of. All these things were relatively easy to do (except for paying for the new furnace and air conditioning units, that was expensive).

As far as the activity that may take more commitment but that I'd really would like to try I would like to recycle more but I just don't like all that stuff around nor do I want to have to pay for the recycling service, I think it should be included in your trash services. I can remember when I was little my parents recycled everything before you even knew about recycling. We used to go take our recyclables to a recycling center and although they didn't pay you for them you didn't pay them to take them either. We would take all sorts of things, paper, clothing, metal, glass and plastic. I remever finding something that someone else brought to the center to recycle and my dad let me keep it - I thought it was a treasure box and I kept my "valuables" in it for years, in fact I may still have it. It really was a German cookie tin which it turns out that many years later my mother-in-law who is from Germany receives these tins with cookies every year at Christmas and she has a house full of these tins. I have since started a collection of my own.

Wellness #41: Going Green - Part 1

According to the calculators we checked out, this is how my household and myself checked out:

I create 9.7 metric tons of CO2 per year accoording to the Green Energy Calculator from Yahoo! Green

The Total Emissions for my household are 72,125 pounds according to the carbon calculator on The Green Team website

My household produces 89,757 pounds, or 45 tons, of carbon dioxide each year! It takes 3,590 trees to store this much carbon dioxide. Both the 89,757 and the 72,125 pounds estimates are WAY above the average for Americans. Either I am way overestimating my amounts or we need to seriously look at what we are doing. As far as driving goes I don't know exactly where we'd cut back any as the driving we do is to and from work. I hope I am over estimating on the Electric bill but even so I don't know how I could be by so much.

I liked the looks of the Yahoo! Green website most but respect the reputation of the National Wildlife Federation most. The Green Team website is from Illinois State University does have a very nice Carbon Footprint Calculator for kids complete with lesson plans for teachers.

I have been to the Houston farmer's market in the Heights and @ Rice University, both are good but the Rice University one has more vendors. I buy honey from the honey lady every time I go and whatever fresh fruits and veggies that are available. I also regularly go to local u-pick places and pick strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and figs. I purchase my free range eggs from our vets office who has a local farmer bring them to their office to sell. I would like to use Jolie Vue Farms to purchase our meat but I don't have a freezer (which would increase my carbon footprint because I would be running another appliance) and driving into Houston (Rice University) is not feasible or possible on a regular basis. I would like to figure out how to use Jolie Vue or a farm similar to it on a regular basis.

If you liked this iHCPL unit you might want to read:

The omnivore's dilemma : a natural history of four meals / Michael Pollan.
by Pollan, Michael

Animal, vegetable, miracle : a year of food life / Barbara Kingsolver, with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver ; original drawings by Richard A. Houser.
by Kingsolver, Barbara

How to reduce your carbon footprint : 365 simple ways to save energy, resources, and money / Joanna Yarrow.
by Yarrow, Joanna.

Plenty : one man, one woman, and a raucous year of eating locally / Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon.by Smith, Alisa, 1971-

Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean, And Fair by Carlo Petrini and Alice Waters

Moveable Feasts: From Ancient Rome to the 21st Century, the Incredible Journeys of the Food We Eat by Sarah Murray

Wellness #40

Carson Kressley can sure make you smile despite what you see in the mirror.

I took a look at the fitness calculators on ExRx.net and

Checked my BMI - Did I really need to know this information?

Calculated my calorie requirements - this one would have me gaining weight even faster than NutritionData.com

and answered the questionnaire to determine my health age - Now I'd love to believe what it says here but based on the calorie requirements calculation I highly doubt it can be accurate. It would have my life expectancy at 87.3!

I am currently very motivated to change my eating habits and stick to my exercise routine but not as a result of these activities. I have been so since my oldest daughter started a countdown to her high school graduation. I can hardly believe my baby is graduating and it sure would be nice to be able to shop for a new outfit for the graduation without feeling disgusted at the size it needs to be to fit. My goal is to be the same size the day she graduates as the day she went to kindergarten. I don't think I'll use any of the sites from this exercise to keep me motivated, my motivation is coming from my husband, my daughters and my best friend.

Only 293 days till Graduation!

Wellness #39: Nutrition

On this subject, I would recommend the following titles:














Just a few ideas to clear up -

If it has Miracle in the title, don't bother
If it says Permanent results, don't believe it
If it says Simple, don't kid yourself



Did you know free-range eggs have 7 times more beta-carotene than regular eggs. Nutrition Data is packed with useful and surprising information about the food you eat. This may be true but I can tell you if I ate based on the Daily Needs Calculator from this website I would rapidly gain weight. I typed in my information and the site responsed with my daily caloric needs. I do believe the information about free-range eggs, I do not believe I need as many calories as the site suggests.


2) I entered a favorite lunch recipe into Recipes.Sparkpeople.com. Here is the recipe with its nutrition facts:

Turkey on Wasa Rye Crisps
Turkey breast meat, 2 slices
*Wasa Fiber Rye Crispbread 1 slice, 2 serving
Mayonnaise, regular, 1 tbsp
Swiss Cheese, 1 slice (1 oz)
Basil, 5 leaves


Nutrition Facts
Turkey on Wasa Rye Crisps Serving Size: 1 serving Amount per serving:
Calories 278.8
Total Fat 13.4 g
Saturated Fat 6.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 4.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.6 g
Cholesterol 48.2 mg
Sodium 709.7 mg
Potassium 172.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate 22.4 g
Dietary Fiber 4.3 g
Sugars 1.5 g
Protein 17.5 g
Vitamin A 8.4 %
Vitamin B-12 22.8 %
Vitamin B-6 9.1 %
Vitamin C 4.8 %
Vitamin D 3.1 %
Vitamin E 3.9 %
Calcium 28.2 %
Copper 2.0 %
Folate 1.5 %
Iron 12.3 %
Magnesium 5.3 %
Manganese 2.4 %
Niacin 0.5 %
Pantothenic Acid 4.1 %
Phosphorus 27.4 %
Riboflavin 14.4 %
Selenium 24.2 %
Thiamin 4.3 %
Zinc 10.9 %


This recipe is not high in calories, but you could experiment with this recipe by substituting the brand of cracker you'd like to put it on or the variety of Wasa cracker you'd like to put it on.