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  • New Local Green Biz to Love: MOM’s Organic Market in Bryn Mawr

    New Local Green Biz to Love: MOM’s Organic Market in Bryn Mawr

    MOM's Organic Market Bryn Mawr PA

     

    This post is for my Mid-Atlantic readers! Do you know about MOM’s Organic Market? This regional chain of organic grocery stores is primarily in the DC/Baltimore area, but they’ve opened their first PA location this weekend in Bryn Mawr. MOM’s specializes in 100% organic produce, sustainable seafood, bulk groceries, and much more. They also offer Naked Lunch, a 100% organic and vegetarian/vegan lunch counter.

    (Lucky enough to be nearby? There’s a Groupon going right now- $15 for $30 of organic goodies.)

    Founder Scott Nash started MOM’s in 1987 out of his mother’s garage, and they are still 100% family owned and operated. Local, family owned, small biz, working to protect and restore the environment: check, check, check and double check!

    Things to love about MOM’s Organic Market:

    • the only grocery chain in the country to stop selling bottled water (seriously, wow!) and the first in the country to eliminate plastic grocery bags
    • all produce is 100% certified organic and they only carry sustainable seafood (including canned tuna)
    • they buy local whenever possible
    • they offset customers’ carbon emissions from shopping trips to and from MOM’s through TerraPass
    • all bulk/produce bags, coffee/sample cups, Naked Lunch to-go-ware, and re-usable MOM’s grocery bags are 100% compostable, and 100% of their electricity use is offset through wind power and renewable energy credits
    • employees receive $5,000 when they buy an electric vehicle, $3,000 when they buy a hybrid
    • they offer free electric car-charging
    • recycling drop-off for wine corks, cellphones and ink cartridges, CFL bulbs, eye glasses, plastic bags, household batteries, and shoes (that’s in addition to paper and compost)
    • host periodic free recycling drives for electronic waste, jeans, holiday & Christmas tree lights and more
    • at the beginning of the winter, they check customers’ tire pressure and inflate their tires for optimal efficiency
    • they do not sell products that use licensed cartoon characters to market to children
    • partner with the Parent Encouragement Program and Childhood Alliance.

     

    Holy cow, right?

    My car is in need of a new timing belt so I’m temporarily grounded from long trips and not able to drop in for the Grand Opening. But I’m seriously looking forward to checking it out and love hearing about eco-conscious companies succeeding and expanding. It means we’re all doing something right!

     

    Found a new green biz to love lately? Let me know!

     

  • Sports Movies to Inspire that “Go For the Gold” Feeling

    sledding

    It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.
    ―Babe Ruth

     

    Disclosure: I’m a member of the Netflix Stream Team, and they’ve equipped our family with a streaming account to drive discussion.

    So, like pretty much everybody else, we’ve been watching the Olympics. (We take the Games seriously. Check out the Elton Family Extreme Winter Olympics 2010 here.)

    We think Bobsleigh is fun to say (BOBSLEIGH!!) and the double luge is insane (the guy on the bottom does the bulk of the steering, but he can’t see the track, did you know that?!), and I was only able to bear a little bit of the ice skating (I HATE when they fall, I feel so terrible for them).

    I was thinking about what sets the Olympics apart from other televised sports. Partially it’s the global aspect, and partially it’s the sports we don’t get to see every day (the world clearly needs more curling). But mostly I think it’s the emphasis on The Dream, the working together for this moment, the uplifting backstories, the overwhelming positivity, versus the focus on negativity, the missed shots, the rivalries that you see in most pro sport coverage.

    It’s a lovely thing to focus on: how a dream, a support system, teamwork, and a whole lot of determination and hard work can mean a moment of a lifetime, even if you don’t get the gold. And if you fail, well, your whole country feels your pain. (Probably a lot of others, too.)

    After the Games are over, after the ice and snow melt so the kids can’t pretend to compete in speed skating or BOBSLEIGH!! for another year, you can still keep that enjoyment of athletic competition, perseverance and go-for-the-gold spirit going by watching some of these movies as a family (they’re all available on Netflix streaming).

    I can personally vouch for the Air Bud movies; my brother loved these when he was young and my daughter has watched every one in existence. I have some issues with plot lines with holes you could drive a Peterbilt truck through, but they definitely reinforce the feeling of teamwork and anything can happen if you try. (And, of course, it’s really fun to watch a dog play ball. Any kind of ball.)

     

    Sports movies for kids

    1. The Short Game
    2. The Kid
    3. The Pistol
    4. A Mile in His Shoes
    5. Winning Favor    		 6. The Mighty Macs
    7. Like Mike 2: Streetball
    8. Air Bud: World Pup
    9. Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch
    10. Air Bud Spikes Back

    They’ll help inspire your kids to imagine themselves as Olympic hopefuls, whatever their sport may be.

     

    kid athletics

    Cass hasn’t decided yet.

    ice skating documentaryAdults and older kids can extend the Olympic feeling by streaming titles like The Fabulous Ice Age (a new Netflix-only documentary that tells the history of figure skating), SEC Storied: Lolo Jones, Usain Bolt: The Fastest Man Alive, Backwards (about an Olympic-hopeful rower), and Lindsey Vonn: In the Moment.

    And with any luck, the Phillies will have an inspirational season we can enjoy as a family, too!

    What are your favorite Olympic events?

    How about inspiring sports movies?

     

    Bonus! Here’s a tutorial to make your own medals.

     

  • Easy No-Sew DIY Fingerless Gloves

    Easy No-Sew DIY Fingerless Gloves

    easy no-sew fingerless gloves

    Winter is not a season, it’s an occupation.
    ―Sinclair Lewis

    I have a long and storied history of getting the SADs in winter, but it hasn’t been too bad this year. I’m pretty sure that’s due to a combination of factors:

    • regular exercise,
    • a concentrated effort to get out into the sun (when it shows up) for some much-needed Vitamin D,
    • I heard we have had 37 different weather events this winter. THIRTY SEVEN. I can’t find anything specific to back that up, but it sounds about right. I do know we’ve had enough snow to make this winter historically a top 5 performer for Delaware. I’ve been too dang busy shoveling and kvetching about school snow days to get all introspective and depressed.

     

    shoveling

     

    ANYWAY.

    On top of all the excitement snow and ice bring, we’ve had a lot of stretches of brutal cold, not to mention periods without power. We don’t keep the heat up very high in our house (doesn’t mean our power bill hasn’t also been brutal this winter) and it doesn’t make sense to keep it raised during the day when I’m (supposed to be) the only one here.

    It gets chilly.

    In particular, my hands get cold typing. (I can hear my husband making fun of me for this; he’s had to work outside all winter. I realize he’s colder. My hands are still cold.)

    My favorite articles of clothing have thumbholes to help keep my hands and wrists warm, but I can only wear them so often. So I’ve been cutting my socks into easy fingerless gloves.

    Fingerless gloves are obviously awesome as they allow you to type, use the touchscreen on your phone, buckle kids in and out of carseats, pay for your coffee, etc etc without having to take your gloves off. Upcycled gloves mean it’s not a big deal if kids lose them (or you lose them). I could also see using them for early spring races where the start would be cold.

    I’ve been making these a long time, as a way to hang onto my fave pair of socks OR socks that I loved the look of but bothered me once on my feet (I’m weird about seams, being able to feel patterns, excessive threads, etc.) But I’ve had several people recently tell me it was clever, so I thought I’d do a quick share.

    It’s as easy as you’d think it would be.

     

    DIY fingerless gloves

     

    (Well, technically I guess this is a no-knitting tutorial, right? Is there even sewing involved for normal gloves?)

    1. Turn your sock inside out for marking.
    2. Put your hand inside the sock.
    3. Make a mark where your knuckles are. Make another where your thumb wants to come out, in the heel.
    4. Cut. Take the sock off your hand first.
    5. Turn right side out and enjoy.

     

    How are you keeping warm?