Ultimate Cloth – Does it Clean as Green as They Say?

Does your house need a good clean after the holidays? Yeah, mine too. I love a clean house but I don’t want to spend my whole life cleaning it. I also want to clean as chemical free as possible for the sake of my family.

And I’ll let you in on a little secret. I have a mad crush on trying different green cleaning supplies. That sounds like a very strange hobby, because it is.

That’s how I came by the Ultimate Cloth. The Ultimate Cloth is a MiraFiber cleaning cloth. What’s that? Well I didn’t know until they told me either. Instead of being made with fibers that have little hooks that pick up dirt like a microfiber cloth, MiraFiber cloths have open spaces between the fibers that act like tiny scoops that pull dirt into the cloth and hold them.

At first glance the Ultimate Cloth looked like a cross between a glorified paper towel and a chamois - thin, stiff, and flat. I figured this thing would rip when I popped it in the washing machine for the first time. And it’s supposed to clean with just water? No cleaners? Riiiight. Honestly I didn’t have high hopes for this one.

I washed the Ultimate Cloth prior to its first use as recommended and let it line dry. Then I dampened it and got to cleaning. The Ultimate Cloth cleaned the toothpaste splatters off of the bathroom mirror with the same amount of elbow grease as I use with rag and vinegar but without the streaks or lint. No lint and no streaks meant I didn’t need to go over the mirror a second time and buff them out. Score one Ultimate Cloth but I’m not done testing you yet.

For the next two months I used the Ultimate Cloth to clean countertops, appliances, and windows, Blitzkrieg’s nose prints off the sliding glass door, mirrors, even Husband’s car. I cleaned with both a damp Ultimate Cloth and with my favorite spray cleaner – vinegar. In all cases the Ultimate Cloth cleaned well. Where the Ultimate Cloth really sings is when cleaning glass, mirrors, and my black appliances. All were clean and streak and lint free. It’s an excellent alternative to a leather or suede chamois for you vegetarian car buffs out there.

Pro

• Can clean with water only.

• Leaves surfaces streak, spot, lint, and dust free.

• Strong and long lasting. I admit my initial skepticism made be beat the heck out of the Ultimate Cloth during my test period. It looks just as good and is soft as the first day I washed it.

• It uses a water jet manufacturing process to bond the fibers together instead of a chemical process. The product plant recaptures and recycles the water in a closed loop system. Nice.

• You can wash the Ultimate Cloth using chlorine bleach unlike traditional microfiber cloths. I didn’t try this because I use hydrogen peroxide based oxygen bleach or straight up hydrogen peroxide or vinegar for my disinfecting needs. However, you may feel differently.

Con

• MiraFiber is made from a form of polyester which is made from petroleum byproducts. This isn't a deterrent for me, but if you are one of those people who hates any and all forms of plastic whatnots, this may not be the product for you.

• You can’t use fabric softener because it leaves a film on the cloth. I don’t use fabric softener so this isn’t an issue for me, again, it might be for you.

• It’s more expensive than a using an old rag. However you might consider it a better return on investment because it doesn’t wear out as easily and it eliminates the need for paper towels.

• You have dampened the Ultimate Cloth to use it. I wouldn’t use it to dust sensitive electronics ifyaknowwhatImean but as always, your mileage may vary.

Wouldn’t you know it after putting this thing to a little harder test because I was such a skeptic, it cleaned well and is as sturdy and soft as the first day I washed it. Surprised? Indeed I am.

Don’t believe me? Buy it and try it yourself at Ultimate Cloth America.


FTC thingywhatis: I received a complimentary Ultimate Cloth to test for this review. No other compensation was provided and all opinions are my own at the time of this writing. Further disclosure: Yes, I really did try to beat the hell out of that thing. Really.

How Do You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions?

I find that I’m better at keeping my New Years Resolutions if I make them when I need them. Sometimes I even make them in the middle of the year. That way I usually come up with something specific and quantifiable and stick-to-ble rather than going with a vague resolution on New Year’s Eve like “lose weight.”


Sarah Eliza of Devastate Boredom has an even better idea. She makes monthly goals. She breaks a huge task – Green Living – into much more manageable tasks each month. Start using reusable shopping bags one month, make and use cloth napkins another month, etc. Those little green things do add up. Recently she won the Salada Tea Green Spotlight because of her green monthly goals! How cool is that?

Another little trick I use is to call my new hope-to-be-habit a New Year’s Goal rather than a New Year’s Resolution. I realize that it’s really just a matter of semantics but I’m better at meeting goals than keeping resolution. Maybe it’s because I do a lot of project management stuff at work.

Either way, if I call it goal, it seems I stick to it better. And let’s face it, I’m the Green Mom who colors outside the lines (I say this with love my friends but you know as well as I do that I’m a little left of center even in the green living world), so why should my contribution for this month’s Green Resolutions blog carnival be any different?

Here are my Green Goals for 2010. (Wow! 2010 sounds so sci-fi space agey futuristic. Which reminds me - WHERE ARE THE FLYING CARS? I’m feeling a little cheated science fiction community, really.)

1. Green my Health & beauty aids. I have weird skin. Sometimes only the most expensive kissed by organic angels product will keep my skin from breaking out. Other times, it’s only some horrible petrochemical concoction from the dollar store. Now that they are more options available I need to switch those few remaining conventional products over to something a little more earth friendly. For example:

• I need to find a moisturizer that will help Husband’s dry and cracked winter skin. I want a permanent replacement to the petrochemical based stuff that we keep going back to because it’s the only one that seems to work for him - Ew. 
• New shampoo for me that deals with my flaking scalp. This is a new development and the itching is driving me crazy! My current shampoo isn’t cutting it. I look longingly at the nasty chemical-laden dandruff shampoo for sale at the drug store (but don’t buy it.) Help!

2. Plant an organic landscape full of companion plants. Yeah, the front yard still looks like this.

This is embarrassing. Help her.

I have a raised garden bed full of organic peat and top soil and without concrete. I have no idea how to design it. Time to call in a pro. Any ideas on where I can find a local organic landscaper?

3. Blog about how I’ve ditched most of my disposables. I focus on using reusable options as much as possible going back to the days when green was just a color. So much so that it’s difficult to find something new to ditch when another blogger offers a challenge! Some may think that I’m a complacent or not so greener than them person. I am. I’ve just been doing it a lot longer than most so my outlook is a little different. I think about everything that comes into my home – hard. I really need to blog about those things more often.

4. Get back to our low waste ways. We had a family member in the hospital for a week. And it’s amazing how something unexpected can throw a wrench into your low waste systems. Basically I drove around a lot more than I normally do during that week and lived on pudding in a cup and fake sushi in a plastic box from the hospital cafeteria (the only two things I could choke down. When I get upset or anxious I can’t eat.) which I couldn’t recycle at the hospital (they only took plastic bottles) and didn’t save and take home for recycling in my bin. We’re doing a few more semi homemade meals lately and as a result I tossed three small grocery store size bags of trash away this month instead of our usual one (although to be fair one bag was mostly fabric scraps from sewing Christmas gifts.) Time to get back to the one tiny bag of trash a month.

6. Find a better tumbling composter. We used a low cost homemade compost bin to see if we could make composting work for us. It did. However after finding dog vomit slime mold in our composter last spring  it made me realize that we need a composting solution that encourages easy mixing, like a tumbling composter or the Naturemill composter of my dreams. Yes, I dream about the Naturemill compost bin because I want one so bad. I think this means that I need to get out more.

That wraps up my green goals/resolutions for 2010. What are your resolutions? How do you plan to keep them?


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This post is part of the Green Mom’s carnival hosted by Non Toxic Kids where our topic is Green Resolutions. Be sure to check it out on January 1, 2010!

My Gingerbread House has Solar Panels

This year husband’s been hinting at making a gingerbread house – loudly. I said I was willing to give it a go even though neither of us has made such a thing. However, we decided not to tempt the Condo Blues whammy and buy a kit since this was our first cookie construction project.

Notice how pretty the example house looks on the box? Our gingerbread house looks nothing like it.

We suited up. Husband in his Iron Chef apron and me in my Fun Baker apron.

We got to work.

We added candy solar panels to our gingerbread house. What makes it green, right?

OK, so our panels aren’t as cool as Erika Jean’s real solar panels  but I bet Santa has solar panels made out of candy canes up at the North Pole, just ask him.

Now the big question. What do you do with a gingerbread house after you've made it? Keep it or eat it?

Easy Personalized Appliqué Dog Towel

While rooting though the clearance section at Bed, Bath, and Beyond I came across an orphan bamboo towel for super cheap. Not so good for my original purpose - new towels for my bathroom, (so Santa if you aren’t too busy, a little help in that area would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!) but that eco-towel was the perfect thing to turn into a personalized dog towel for Blitzkrieg’s dog cousin Chopper, as a Christmas gift. Before any gifting could happen that towel needed a little spiff up so the little dude knew that it was his to chew on.

 

This is Chopper. His hobbies are chewing things, laying on the heat vent, and chewing things.

This is a quicker variation of how I made a traditional appliqué dog blanket because I used a piece of felt for the appliqué. Using scrap felt or fleece is ideal for a rounded appliqué shape because fabric doesn’t fray. You don’t have to worry about tucking in the edges to keep the fabric from fraying while trying to maintain rounded edges. Using felt/fleece makes this an easy beginning appliqué/embroidery/sewing project and a good older kid project.

Here's hoping Chopper doesn't read blogs or it could spoil his Christmas surprise

You will need:

1 towel
Straight pins
Paper (if you can print on the backside of some scrap paper that would be awesome)
Scissors
Sewing needle/sewing machine
Sewing thread to match the color of the towel
Small rectangle of felt/fleece (I used scrap felt from my stash)
Embroidery thread

1. Create a bone shape using a graphics program like Photoshop or you can enlarge and print out the pattern I created here.

Yes, I’m recycling this graphic from my personalized appliqué fleece dog blanket post because I’m all over the recycling thing (and it saves me server space.)


2. Pin the bone shape to your fleece/felt.

3. Cut out the appliqué with the scissors.

4. If desired, use a running stitch and embroidery thread to embroider the name of the lucky dog onto the  appliqué.

5. Pin the appliqué to the towel.

6. Hand sew or machine sew the appliqué to the towel.

7. Remove the pins.

8. Wipe down your dirty dog with their new personalized towel!


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This post is part of  DIY Day.

Sew Easy Homemade Gifts for Girls and Guys

It turns out that I’m sewing a lot of gifts for Christmas this year. It started innocently enough when I made myself a Buttercup Purse last summer.  I got compliments and requests for Buttercup Bags as gifts.

Many of the girls are getting Buttercup purses. OK actually several of them already got Buttercup bags for their birthday already. I played with the size and details of the original pattern a bit.

My favorite is the green paisley. It started life a tablecloth that I like but didn’t quite work in my kitchen.

This is a quick little pattern and I was able to whip up of a few of these purses in an afternoon. Pretty purses and a nice stash buster project to boot. All of the buttons with the exception of the skull and crossbones buttons came from Grandma’s buttonbox.

Then Mr. H said he wanted to make and give homemade gifts this year. Of course, as The World’s Most Fabulous Aunt (trademark pending) I had to comply.

Last Christmas my mom made everyone on my side of the family fleece pajama pants. Mine are the pink skull and cross bone pants (naturally) shown here. Since Husband and I practically live in these things until spring, and I found licensed team fabric for sale, I decided to make some for the guys on my gift list. If I couldn’t find or order team fabric/fleece, I went with a fun printed cotton fabric/fleece depending upon where the person lived (hot Southern state or cold Northern state.)

Not all of the fabric is pictured because I don’t want to spoil any Christmas surprises.

I particularly like the retro horror movie fabric at the top of the fabric pile. I bought if from ReproDepot Fabrics. Even though they are sports fans, I'm using it to make matching father – son pajama pants for Mr. G and his Dad. Apparently Mr. G now considers himself a horror movie expert and told EVERYONE in his preschool that he watches Freddie Kruger with his Dad. Translation: Mr. G visited the Halloween store with his Dad (apparently a few more times than his mother realized) and asked about a Freddie Kruger mask. Brother in Law described Freddie as “a scary guy who lives in the dream world.” Ergo, Mr. G considers himself an expert even though he’s seen nothing scarier than a Scooby Doo movie (if that.)

I used Simplicity pattern #3935 for the lounge pants which has both kid and adult sizes in the same pattern. I made the cotton pants with drawstring waist (for easier fit) and the fleece pants with elastic wasits. Stick with an elastic waist if you’re sewing with fleece. Trying to do a drawstring waist with fleece makes too bunchy around the waist. Feh.

I was happy to find organic cotton and fleece fabric made from recycled plastic bottles for sale on line at Fabric.com. Unfortunately it was either a baby/girly print or a solid color; neither was suitable for my guys so I ordered some licensed team fabric from them instead. I’m hoping that once there is a little more demand for greener fabrics that there will be a little more variety in the prints/selection.

Since I like to keep things even by way of nieces and nephew gifts, and I ended up sewing at least one small gift for almost every person on our gift list. I have 26 people and two dogs on my list.

I am one tired Christmas elf.

What gifts are you making for Christmas this year?

12/28/09 Update: Now that Christmas is over I can spill the beans on what I made as Christmas gifts this year.
8 Buttercup purses
11 pairs of pajama pants
3 microwave heating pads
22 braided fleece dog chew toys (from all of the fabic scraps and a few old towels)
6 bean bags and 2 cornhole game boards
1 personalized dog towel
3 lavender sachets (from lavender I dried from my garden)
2 jars of dried chive from my garden (as stocking stuffers)

Fortunately everyone liked their gifts. Even Mr J1 who is 13 and is going through a stage of acting like a 13 year old boy. He, his Dad, and Mr. J2 called their matching fleece sleep pants "Wahoo pants" because I made them with fabric featuring the Cleveland Indians mascot, Chief Wahoo.

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33 Realistic Ways to Green Your Gift Wrap

I like wrapping gifts. I have quite the reputation as a good wrapper, yo. It doesn’t have to be hard, expensive, or wasteful. I’ve developed many tips and tricks for wrapping beautiful gifts through trial and lots of error. To do this I rely on two essentials:

1. My box of boxes. I have a box full of different size gift boxes, gift bags, and gift tins that are always ready and waiting for me to use and reuse.
2. A box of gift wrap and supplies. Gift bags, wrapping paper, ribbon, tag making supplies, old Christmas cards, gift toppers, scissors, and tape are waiting for me to use and reuse too.

After the holiday I replenish both with items that I can reuse from the gifts we’ve received on Christmas day. How green and thrifty is THAT?

Although most of my recipients don’t realize that the item in their hands is wrapped in a green in your face manner. All they see is a pretty package. And that’s the way I like it.

So what do I specifically use to wrap my holiday gifts in a green, festive, and inexpensive manner? Let’s take a look.

Gift Wraps

1. Save and reuse paper gift wrap from year to year – Well gee that one’s easy, inexpensive too.
2. Buy gift wrap made from recycled paper – If you can find and the price doesn’t blow a hole in your budget, have at.
3. Maps – It’s not like you can fold them back up like you’re supposed to anyway. Why not reuse those vacation maps as gift wrap?
4. Kids drawings – Best for smaller gifts and make sure the kiddos are OK with the possibility of their masterpieces being cut to size during wrapping or ripped during unwrapping first.
5. Brown paper bags – I like the rustic look and use green cloth ribbon or real twine and top with pine cones or seedpods. Very masculine, very green, and very cheap.
6. Newspaper – I don’t use this anymore because I don’t get the newspaper. When I do it’s my local alternative weekly and I feel weird wrapping a gift in the personal ads (unless it’s as a joke for the newly single.) Your mileage may vary.
7. Fabric – Great for odd shaped gifts. I once got a handpainted flower pot and herb books wrapped like a gift basket in fabric because I sew. And yes, I loved and used both gifts.
8. Kitchen towels/cloth napkins, tablecloth, etc. - My mom does this with wedding shower gifts. Last year my father gave wine he had made wrapped in new kitchen towels. Mom said she liked that idea and will do it when she wraps her homemade soy candles as gifts. (Gifts of wine and candles? Oh tell me they aren’t not-so-subtly asking for grandkids, I dare you.)
9. Scarves – Sometimes the wrapping can be an extra gift. Like say wrapping the new winter hat and gloves your husband so desperately needs in the scarf.
10. Put the regular wrapping paper you used in a city recycling bin – Some cities will recycle wrapping paper. If so, great! OK, so it may not be so green on the front end but it is on the back end. Sometimes life gives you circumstances where you just have to punt.

Reusable Non-Wraps AKA Containers so Pretty They Don’t Need Paper Wraps

Slap a bow on top and you’re done. Pretty, quick, and reusable – I like! This is an excellent solution for those of you who are convinced you can’t wrap/hate to wrap gifts.

1. Cookie/popcorn/food tins – Excellent for experience gifts like tickets or membership paperwork because it makes the gift look more significant than just handing over an envelope. If the tin is a little worse for wear, spiff it up with some leftover spray paint first.
2. Chinese takeout style boxes – I found a bunch of new plain white ones in a thrift store, decorated them with stickers and got raves – easy and cheap! Great kid project too.
3. Printed/decorated box – This may not work out so well if you have people who like to peep at their gifts under the tree before Christmas.
4. Gift bag (fabric/paper/decorate a store bag) - I save and reuse gift bags from year to year. In a pinch, I’ve decorated and reused paper shopping bags. This is another excellent kid craft. I use undecorated store shopping bags for pet gifts because Christmas is the one day out of the year that Blitzkrieg is allowed to shred paper and he likes to unwrap his own gifts.

I can pull my gift out by myself if it’s wrapped in a gift bag. I’m very careful which allows Lisa to reuse my gift bags.

Gift Bag/Box Stuffing

1. Save tissue paper from previous years – If you can. Sometimes it just doesn’t hold up from one year to the next.
2. Use/buy shredded/crinkled paper – Once I found this stuff I switched over to stuffing gift bags with this instead of tissue paper. It’s much easier to save and reuse from year to year.
3. Shred old wrapping/colored paper – A good solution if you have a paper shredder and gift wrap that your city doesn’t recycle or you run out of #1 and #2, the store’s closed, and you’re about to leave for a party. Guess how I know?

Ribbons

I love packages tied up with strings. And ribbons. You can still have ribbons and be green about it too.
1. Natural raffia – You can compost it afterward. Watch out for the plasticy fake stuff unless you think the person will reuse it
2. Paper craft ribbon – Yes, it’s difficult to reuse or recycle in a bin but you can compost it because it’s paper.
3. Colored twine – As long as it’s made from a natural fiber it’s compostable too.
4. Wired ribbon - Easy to refluff and reuse for the following year. I use this a lot because I love topping ribbon with big poufy bows made from more wired ribbon.
5. Cloth ribbon from your sewing/gift wrap stash.
6. Cloth rick rack from your sewing/gift wrap stash.
7. Reuse old video/cassette tape – One divorcee I know used her old wedding video. *Ouch*
8. Yarn from your craft/gift wrap stash.


Bows

1. Save and reuse bows – to save a smashed bow snip through the loops and fluff so it looks a bit like a chrysanthemum. If it still looks a little anemic, tape a second smashed, clipped and refluffed bow inside the first one. Then be cagey when the recipient asks where you bought such cool looking bow for her gift.

The formerly squashed bow. My apologies for the picture quality

2. Fronts of Christmas cards – I usually do this on gifts I have to mail since bows get smashed during shipping.
3. Make a bow from recycled magazines or chip bags – I’m doing this for Mr. H’s gift this year because he proudly told me that he won an award at school for recycling (you go Mr. H!) I think he’d appreciate the extra effort. Thus clinching the title of World’s Most Fabulous Aunt (trademark pending) for yet another year.
4. Greenery/pine cones/seedpods/leaves – Tie a little cluster with some ribbon and no-one will ever realize that you ran out of traditional gift bows and ribbon. They will talk about your Martha Stewart gift wrapping powers instead.
5. Silk or dried flowers – I have these from old bridesmaid’s bouquets in my gift wrapping box. I pull a few flowers/greenery out and tie them together w/ ribbon. If the silks are a little worse for wear I give them a quick spiff up with leftover silver or gold spray paint and make them festive again.
6. Old garland - Tie a loop of old garland together with string to make a bow – like cluster or use in place of ribbon.
7. Christmas ornaments – If it’s a personalized ornament it doubles as a gift tag! Minimal effort and maximum impact – what’s not to like?

Gift Tags

I’ve never purchased a gift tag. Ever. I use a combination of the following:

1. Fronts of old Christmas cards I received from previous years.
2. Wrapping paper scraps cut into a rectangle and folded over – You can spiff them up or cut them down to size with decorative scrap booking scissors if you have them.
3. Make gift tags from old business cards – I glue 2 business cards together front sides facing in, shape with scissors or a decorative corner punch, and punch a hole in the top to tie to the gift. Easy!

I make blank gift tags up ahead of time to make wrapping go more quickly.

4. Cut gift tags from paper w/ scrap booking stamps/cutters – Renovation Therapy makes round gift tags by punching out and gluing together two different sizes and types of decorative paper. Pretty!


What is your favorite way to wrap gifts?


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Toy Donation Drive By

Husband, Blitzkrieg, and I loaded up the car with new toys and drove over to one of the local TV stations for the NBC4 Firefighters for Kids toy drive. Husband and I had a blast shopping because we let our inner children do the shopping instead of our usual Cleverly Disguised as Responsibly Adult personas that we show to the outside world.

We figured that one of our toys might be the only thing some needy kid gets for Christmas and we wanted to make it a good one. Sadly there’s a greater need than ever for toys in Columbus this Christmas.

Actually Thank you for reminding us that this is the season to think of others.

Since I made a lot of gifts this year (Mr. H requested hand made gifts this year – what a great kid!), we decided to use that extra money to splash out on a few more toys than we normally donate. We also paid our good fortune forward and donated a some of the toys I got in my gift bag from sponsors at Blogher last summer.

More Santa’s Helpers than there are North Pole Elves I’ll bet.

The importance of volunteering and thinking of others were instilled in both Husband and I as children from our parents. We want to instill that in our child too. Of course our child is a dog, but that still doesn’t mean he shouldn’t go along for the ride.

Bye Mr. Potato Head! Don’t fail us; make a kid’s Christmas, OK?

Besides Blitzkriegs loves nothing better than car rides and firefighters. He goes with me to drop items off at our city recycling dumpster at a nearby fire station. If the firefighters are out and about the station house they come over to give Blitzkrieg some pets. During last year’s Doo Dah parade one of the firefighters marching in the parade gave Blitzkrieg a dog treat. So yeah, he thinks firefighters rock. We think they are pretty special too.

This firefighter saw Blitzkrieg in the car, ran over, and asked if he could give Blitzkrieg a treat. Blitzkrieg says, “Bow-rowark!” (That’s Pekingese for “Thank you.”)

I hope this doesn’t sound like bragging. It just feels good to be in a situation where I can donate needed items as well as my time. Unlike during my college years when all I could give was time because I put myself though college and well, you can guess where most of my money went back then.

If you can’t donate money or things this year, please consider donating your time to the charity of your choice. It doesn’t have to be a big on going volunteer commitment, even a few hours can make a world of difference to someone in need. No one can put a price tag on that.

Do you do any service projects or volunteering during the holidays?

How to Make a No Slip Microwave Heating Pad

They go by many names: microwaveable heating pad, hot rice pack, bed buddy, aromatherapy heating pad, hot wheat bag, flax seed heating pad, cherry pit pack, hot therapy pillow, herbal heating pad, and buckwheat heating pads to name a few. Basically they are all some sort of heating pad that you heat in the microwave and use to soothe those achy muscles – ahhh!

Husband tried one at a friend’s house while recovering from a torn side muscle. He said that the bag’s size and shape did the job much better than his electric heating pad (which we sadly left at home.)

I decided to make him one but improve the design a little bit by making chambers so the heated contents wouldn’t slip away from the part of his body that needed the heat. By using a kitchen towel for my project he can also use it as a homemade moist heating pad if he likes.

Toasty warm!

National Brownie Day is a Real Holiday?

I like to eat brownies. I also like to support local businesses and when those local businesses make brownies, I get an extra happy in my tummy.

Cheryl & Co. is a based in Columbus and they make brownies. Their cookies are the stuff of legend. They invited me their Headquarters December 8th to celebrate National Brownie Day and also to learn about their other companies, The Popcorn Factory and 1-800 Flowers. Which are companies I patronize already and had no idea were part of Cheryl & Co. I accepted their invite much to Husband’s delight.

Tip: I keep and reuse Cheryl & Co. and The Popcorn Factory’s sturdy and brightly printed cookie boxes, popcorn and cookie tins for wrapping small gifts. Experience gifts like tickets or membership paperwork look more significant when they come in a decorated tin. All you need to do is slap on a bow or ribbon and you’re done! Quick, pretty, reusable gift wrap. I like.

I saw how Cheryl & Co. make their famous cookies and brownies. The process is kind of like how you’d do it at home with real butter, eggs, and sugar but on a much bigger scale. I was impressed that Cheryl & Co. doesn’t add extra preservatives to their cookies and that they can still be frozen for up to six months.

Cookies cooling and waiting for butter cream frosting

Unfortunately to do that means Cheryl & Co. seals each cookie in its own plastic wrapper. I asked if customers could buy them and not have them individually wrapped to reduce waste. The short answer is no. Other than for freshness the wrappers also list the cookie’s ingredients and keeps the flavors and ingredients from cross contaminating which is very important to those with food allergies.

They also told me Cheryl & Co. experimented with corn based plastic wrappers but the supplier went out of business. They can’t find a new supplier who can deliver the quantity and quality they need right now. I’m confident that if enough customers politely ask Cheryl & Co. to consider offering a less wasteful packaging option or organic or Fair Trade ingredients that good things will happen. After all that’s why Cheryl & Co. has sugar free and certified kosher cookies – because their customers asked for it.

I still think they are heaven on a plate even with the extra wrapping.

We went into the Cheryl & Co. test kitchen where they showed us an example of a mood board they put together of this season’s color trends for the holiday (jewel tones, white and light blue, snowflakes, and snowmen.) Yes friends, mood boards aren’t just for decorating they also apply to baked goods.

They gave us recipes for amazing butter cream frosting, ganache, and chocolate dough cutouts. These aren’t Cheryl’s Top Secret recipes but ones they created just for us bloggers (feeling a little bit like a fancy pants now!) Then they let us have at it with pastry bags, cookie cutters, and the like.

We rocked those hairnets! Oh yes we did.

Everyone created some very pretty chocolate bark cutouts and iced brownies.

White chocolate bark with hand colored sugar sprinkles

Then there’s mine.

OK so I don’t get out much

But I do follow directions. I ate that brownie and it was delicious.

Even with the extra plastic packaging I think that Cheryl’s cookies and brownies make great gifts and a nice occasional treat (I’ve found a few more lower waste options when I’ve gone to an actual Cheryl & Co. store BTW.) I'm not just saying this because they gave me some free cookies either. It takes more than a free cookie to impress me. What really impressed me was that they listen to their customers and try to accommodate them as best they can (they have a whole separate bakery for the kosher items! Don't tell me it didn't a lot of extra effort.) Like I mentioned before, Husband and I were patrons of these companies long before I visited Cheryl's. In fact, Husband still sends me flowers via 1-800 Flowers when I have an office gig just because.

If you still need a Hanukkah, Christmas, or Solstice gift or just want to treat yourself,  Cheryl and Co is offering Condo Blues readers $10 off any purchase through January 31, 2010 if you use the code BRN10.


Cheryl & Co. Brownie Day Giveaway! *Closed*


Cheryl & Co. offered to sponsor a giveaway! The winner will receive The Cheryl & Co. Ultimate Brownie Assortment. That’s $50 worth of brownie love - yum!

To enter: leave a comment on Condo Blues telling me your favorite flavor brownie.You must leave your email address so I can contact you if you win or your entry will be disqualified. If your email address is available via your Blogger profile that counts.

You can earn extra chances to win by doing any of the following after you’ve made your initial comment on my blog:

1. Blog about my contest with a link back to Condo Blues. Please leave the URL of your blog post so I can verify it.

2. Subscribe to Condo Blues by Email.

3. Subscribe to the Condo Blues RSS feed.

4. Follow Condo Blues on Twitter AND tweet about the contest. Please leave your username and the URL of your tweet in your comment so I can verify it.

5. Put my Condo Blues button on the sidebar of your blog.

You must leave a separate comment for each method you used to enter the contest. If you choose to use every method of entry, you have up to six chances to win!

I will use a random generator to select the winner. The Cheryl & Co Brownie Day Give Away runs from December 10, 2009 – January 3, 1010 12 midnight EST. Good Luck!

Legal mumbo jumbo: This contest is open to US residents only. I will not share you email information any third parties. Cheryl & Co. did supply me with free sample products (how else can I tell you what they taste like?) but did not pay me to run this giveaway or say nice things about their products. All opinions are 100% my own and longtime readers know I can be very opinionated.

Update 1/2010: Congratulations to Deb who won the Ultimate Brownie Assortment!

Sparkly Glam Recycled Outdoor Christmas Décor

I wanted to do something a little different to shake up my outdoor Christmas decorations this year. I’m leaning towards glitzy glam, because I’m still pining for those shiny silver and red trees I didn’t buy at the Restore. I want to keep it environmentally friendly too. Difficult because sparkly wow! isn’t generally associated with environmentally friendly. Environmentally friendly usually means country burlap. Not what’ I’m looking for this year.

After a little rooting around in the outdoor Christmas décor box, found these sparkly dood-dads. They came as part of a Christmas decoration that a cousin made and gave me that didn’t quite make it to my house in one piece during shipping so I never used it. They will do just nicely on the swoopy parts of the garland on my porch.

Sparkley!

The red and white coordinates with the Danish flag I fly (it is a Danish tradition to fly and decorate with the national flag at Christmas.) Red and white Danish Christmas color scheme? I can work with that. It’s a nice departure from the purple and gold, the blue and silver, and the subtle red, white, and blue of years and homes past.

Now for the front door. That’s tough because I painted my front door hunter green and evergreen wreaths melt into the color.

I hit the stores with husband in tow (I suspect he must have been bored because he’d rather chew his own foot off to escape being caught in a bear trap than shop) to find a green nongreeen wreath. After rejecting the few (as in 2) wreaths we found he said, “So what are you really looking for?”

“Something Glam! Glitzy! Sparkly! Wow!” I counter.

*blank stare*

I don’t understand why he didn’t get what I was saying because I did Glee-like jazz hands and everything.

Exasperated I cry,” Drag queens honey! Drag queens!”

“Well, why didn’t you say so in first place?!”

Then he says,” Aren’t they more New Year’s Eve than Christmas?”

I love that he gets me.

We were ready to give up until…

Feathers!

It still needed a little something so I picked up a cloth glitter pick (is glitter eco friendly? I’m not sure. I’m late to the loving glitter party) and hot glued it on my feather wreath like a big ol’ Joan Crawford broach.

No wire hangers here!

Add a new string of LED lights along the front of the porch (thanks Rob!), the old battery operated sensor candle lights in the windows (more Danish tradition) framed out with last year’s woven Danish Christmas hearts and junk mail snowflakes and you got yourself some festive and recycled Glam Glitzy Sparkly Wow outdoor Christmas décor. Even though most of it is red, it’s pretty green too.


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Holiday Helper: Making Quick Meals From Scratch

I'm so excited that my friend Lisa from RetroHousewife Goes Green offered to do a Guest Post on Condo Blues. Take it away Lisa!

Thanks to Lisa for letting me do a guest post for her! Her blog is one of the first blogs I started reading and I have gotten to know her from the Green Moms Carnival. Be sure to check out my blog Retro Housewife Goes Green as well.


We all know there are days you just don't want to cook. While most of America would just go get some fast food or call for take out, that is often not so green and not very healthy.

A great way to still have quick meals but stay healthy and green is to make some meals you can freeze and heat later. It's like making your own frozen dinners.

I like to take a day that I have very little else going on and make a lot of meals at once. The favorite in our house is pizza. It's super easy! All you need to do to make your own frozen pizzas is take your favorite dough recipe and make enough for however many you want to freeze.

Precook the dough enough they just starting to get a bit darker (not brown yet) and are firm. Let cool then top however you like. Stick them on a cookie sheet with a piece of wax paper between each crust and put them in the freezer for a few hours. Once totally frozen pull out and wrap in foil or however you choice, put back in freezer until you need them.

When you are ready to eat them just cook at the temp your dough calls for, it should take around 12-15 minutes or so. Just watch it the first time to be sure. It is done when the crust starts browning and the cheese starts to brown on the edges and is all the way melted. It's just like cooking a store bought frozen pizza.

Other great meals for the freezer include soups, chicken cannelloni, lasagna, most casseroles, mac & cheese, and so many others. You can also freeze side dishes like Italian or French bread, potato skins, and twice baked potatoes. I even like to make up cookie dough, scoop it in to balls, flash freeze and then I can just pull out a few at a time to bake so we don't over eat them. The ideas are endless.

There are so many recipes out there for freezer meals. A quick search for 'once a month cooking' on most recipe sites will give you lots of ideas. Making your own quick food will save you money and save on waste!

The Low Key Christmas Party – a Green Holiday Favorite!

Last year I read an article in the New York Times Style section where the writer boo hoo’ed that because the economy was tanking they had to skip throwing a swanky expensive Christmas party and ended up doing something at home. They were surprised that their downsized party was more fun than the lavish ones of their past, predicted it a huge trend (because of course they just created such a thing), and oh by-the-way it’s a little greener way to go.

Well I suppose that makes my very Midwestern friends Alex and Anne trendsetters! They are way ahead of their time because they’ve been throwing this kind of Christmas party for years. It’s one of the best parties I attend and I’ve been to some swank holiday parties let me tell you.

Funny thing is, if you met Alex and Anne, you wouldn’t say that they were trendsetters at all. They don’t wear trendy clothes or drive sports cars or even a Prius. Their traditional Christmas party also flies in the face of any green cynic who says that Christmas, and parties, and gifting are a wasteful, unthoughtful, consumer-ridden humbug that we should just remove from our yurts completely. Because they are the type of people who, like most of my friends, emphasize people and fun. Although our idea of fun is usually a little kookier than most.

The Party, the Details, the Fun!

The Food: The food couldn’t be easier it’s potluck. Many of us are foodies. Some are vegetarians, some aren’t. Some drink. Some don’t. Dietary restrictions aren’t a problem because if you have ‘em you bring a dish that fits. Don’t’ have time to cook? No problem. Just come. Eat. Then eat some more.

The Dishes: Reusable and quite festive. Anne has a nice on-going collection of Christmas dishes and loves the chance to use them. And now BPA free sippy cups! Whoo!

The Decorations: They reuse them from year to year, which makes me question those who find the decoration part of the holidays wasteful. I guess they think that everyone buys all new and then throws them all out each year? I don’t. Do you? Heck, even most major businesses and department stores reuse or revamp or rent their holiday décor from year to year. Some even donate it to be sold for charity. So that part of the green grinchiness I don’t get with the exception of people who dump so many lights on their house that it can be seen from space. That excessive use of electricity I get as being considered wasteful. The other? Not so much.

The Clothes: Leave the ball gown and stilettos at home. Dress is festive but comfortable. Alex and Anne are big gamers, and have almost every board game known to man. In the pre-kid days, the evening ended with board games way into the night. Now that there are kids on the scene, the party ends earlier.

The (Infamous) Gift Exchange: Yes, there is a gift exchange. But the emphasis really isn’t on the gifts themselves but on the fun involved with the exchange.

Da Rules

1. It’s a white elephant gift exchange. You are absolutely NOT allowed to buy anything to put in this gift exchange. It MUST be something that you have in your own home.

• The more useless/odd the item is the better. 
• Items from one year’s gift exchange may return to the party for exchange at any given year. Case in point:

We gave the dog bobble head away and came back to us following year!

2. Gift wrapping has evolved to into a celebrated fake out system. In other words, you get props for wrapping the most useless item in the most attractive and desirable manner.

• Bribery (in the form of incorporating candy into the wrapping) is allowed.
• Fake outs like wrapping a small item in a very large box are also allowed. That’s how I ended up with a box of macaroni and cheese mix one year.

3. You may swap, steal, or exchange an item. This is the best part! Again the fun isn’t trying to get the “best” gift (because there usually isn’t and that’s the point.) The fun is in Alex’s complex rules about exchanges, steals, and swaps. His systems are mind-blowingly elaborate and completely different from one year to the next. They are so complex that someone (usually me) offers to diagram them in flowchart form because no one remembers them except Alex.


I think the best way to describe this Christmas party is whenever I’m there it feels like a warm friendly hug. With cookies (hopefully Candy Cane Trader Joe Joes the best transfat free cookie on the planet!**) Isn’t that what the holidays are really all about?


This post is part of the Green Moms Carnival hosted by The Green Phone Booth on December 7th where our topic is Greener Traditions.

**Hey FTC I don't know if you consider this a review or endorsement or not because Trader Joe's didn't pay me or even give me free cookies. Alex did. I made fun of him serving store bought cookies next to Anne's homemade cookies at last year's Christmas party. Then he told me to try one and I fell in love. Husband and I snarfed boxes of Candy Cane Trader Joe Joes last season. I tweeted their vitrues and did a little dance in the store (no lie) when I saw them for sale at Trader Joe's this year. The cashiers smiled politely like you do when you don't want to anger a crazy person and packed my groceries as quickly as they could in my reusable shopping bag to get me out of the store. That's all I have to disclose about that.

Mom’s Homemade Soy Candles

My Mom has an addictive new hobby – making scented soy candles. Since I love burning candles and Mom usually gives her creations as gifts to people like say, me, this is one addiction that I wholeheartedly encourage

Might be a Danish thing (Danes burn so many candles that as a nation Denmark consumes more candles per capita than any other country on earth – no lie) might be an inner pyromaniac thing. Either way I find that burning a scented soy candle is a festive way to get rid of cooking smells after dinner without resorting to icky fake flower scented sprays that are full of questionable chemicals. Feh.

Mom’s dealer, source of inspiration came from her favorite candle store The Swan Creek Candle Company. It’s a little candle shop that sells the most fragrant soy candles with lead free wicks. She promises to take me there when I visit her but we end up not going for one reason or another. I forgive her because she gives me candles. Yes, I let her to buy my love because I"m nice like that.

The one thing Mom wasn’t so thrilled with was the price. Soy candles are a bit more expensive than paraffin wax candles. However, while you’re paying a bit more upfront for a soy candle, it pays you back because soy candles burn a lot longer and cleaner than paraffin wax candles. And it probably goes without saying that soy wax is made from a naturally renewable source unlike paraffin which is a petroleum based product.

Still the giant jar candles that she prefers are a tad spendy. So she decided to make her own. Who does this sound like? Yes, I know, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Mom bought a couple of kitschy glasses from Goodwill and a Bulk Wax Refill Kit from Swan Creek. The soy wax in the refill kit is made to melt in the microwave, so I suppose you could do this project with the kiddos as long as you supervise them around the hot wax. Mom put the cotton wicks in her glass containers, melted the scented wax in the microwave, and poured in the wax into the glasses to the desired level. She let the wax set for 24 hours. Then her candles are ready to light!

Or ready to give as a Christmas gift. Hint, hint.

This post is part of Trash to Treasure Tuesday and DIY Day.