Category: Everything Else

Yaktrax Walker, $19.95

I’ve purchased Yaktrax in years past for my husband, my in-laws, my mailman and myself. They are AWESOME for walking on ice; they stretch right over your boots and the metal “bites” into the ice for traction. I found them especially useful in the years where I was carrying around a sleeping baby!

Bear Claw Scoops, $14.95

I don’t think I’ve kept it secret that I hate the yearly leaf gathering…
These would make leafwork much faster and much more fun.
I am thinking that they could also be used for quickly piling up snow for forts and snowmen!

Yaktrax and Bear Claws can be found at Plow and Hearth®.

Mason Bee House, $14.95

I had two tomato plants that grew like crazy, flowered, and then never bore fruit because they were never properly pollinated. Major disappointment.

As honeybee populations mysteriously decline, we can do our part to support pollinator populations by preparing our yards for them. And, we can keep these beneficial pollinators in our yards where they can help out our fruit and vegetable garden, by providing desirable shelter.

Mason bees are native, non-stinging bees that can pollinate up to 20 times as many blooms as a honeybee.

I think this bamboo beehouse is really pretty.

Roosting Pocket Village, $14.95

Another perennial favorite gift to give. These are so cute, and woven from natural materials. The house wrens like to nest in them, and there is quite seriously nothing so enjoyable as a family of wrens returning year after year. Their song means that spring has arrived.

These should be hung outside a window so you can hear the singing and watch the babies learn to fly!

Motion Activated Night Light, $19.95

This would be a thoughtful gift for a new or expecting parent, to aid in those middle-of-the-night feedings and diaper changes.

Or, it could be hung on a young child’s doorknob for when they have to make the midnight trek to the bathroom (is there anything worse than having to snap on the bathroom light when you’re half-asleep?)

Mason Bee Village, Roosting Pocket Village, and Nightlight available at Gardener’s Supply Company.

You can save 10% off any order over $25 at Gardener’s Supply Company by clicking through the button on the sidebar.

Peanut Butter Mixer, $12.00

How great is this? I like natural peanut butter but hate stirring it after it separates, the oils on top always slosh out. This totally solves that problem.

Power Yoga Mat Kit, $14.99

Nothing feels better than warming up your muscles in winter with a yoga workout. This kit includes the mat (which is helpfully marked for optimal hand and foot placement), a yoga strap, and a demo Rodney Yee DVD.

I love Rodney Yee’s yoga DVDs but I really wish his wardrobe was not so…revealing.

Dynamo Hand Powered Flashlight, $15.00

We love our solar BOGO flashlight, but sometimes the kids just forget to leave it in a window to charge up. The solution? A hand-powered flashlight!

Solar Hat Fan, $10.00

I was thinking that this solar hat fan would be a practical present for my husband, who works in construction, but apparently wearing it would be “horrifically embarrassing”.

So we’ll call this one a fun and educational gift for kids who are not so easily embarrassed!

Natural peanut butter mixer, yoga mat kit and solar hat fan available at Gaiam.

Gaiam is offering free shipping on any purchase until 12/19 with coupon code AFFSC, and you can get 6% cash back by shopping through Ebates!

(Not an Ebates shopper yet?
Sign up by clicking here and we both earn a bonus $5 with your first purchase.)

I just started my Christmas shopping over the weekend, but I’m not terribly stressed about it, especially since we’re making a lot of gifts. How far along are you?

The present
is the only moment that is truly ours,
and we ought to make use of it.

-Blaise Pascal

Every so often I get to really see the sunset, in all its surreal fire and glory, and I am struck by the fact that I have access to the greatest show on earth, every night, for free; and yet most nights I miss it.

I mean, not to be morbid or anything, but we don’t know what tomorrow brings; I have only a limited number of sunsets left, whatever that number may be.

I think I owe it to myself to catch as many of those sunsets as possible; the fact that it is free of charge makes it no less astonishing, miraculous, or beautiful.

I saw this headline in my Google Desktop ticker:

Man sentenced to 1 year in jail for trying to smuggle rare animals from Madagascar in clothing

and I got all excited and hurriedly clicked through, hoping for hilarious pictures of monkeys in trousers. Did he fashion the clothing ahead of time or cobble it together after he had ammassed his rare animals?

What other rare animals in clothing would there be? (Did you know that nearly 75% of animals native to Madagascar are found nowhere else on the planet?)

Would he try to pass off a wild cat as a pampered housecat, by dressing it in a tutu and wig? Wild birds in bonnets? Was he pretending to be heading a traveling circus? In that case, would there be lemurs in leotards?

Alas, no.

“Jo van Niekerk, a 29-year-old zoology student, was arrested in November after the chameleons, snakes, lizards and frogs were found in his baggage and clothing at the airport.”

Oh. They were in his clothes. I guess that makes more sense.

Now I am thinking about lizards in overcoats and frogs wearing spectacles.

No, wait. They were in his clothes? Chameleons, snakes (plural!), lizards and frogs were in his clothes?

I know, I know, I have mental problems but I need more information.
I can only hope that somewhere, there are pictures.