I feel like a walking zombie and I’ve been neglecting my blog- not to mention my child. We started cleaning out the townhouse on Sunday and we had hoped to be done by Monday night. Well… it’s going to take another 2 weeks at least before it’s presentable to show anyone. We had no clue how much work needed to be done. Some damages were from my ex-husband and seeing the dents, broken glass and patched up holes in the wall has brought back some really bad feelings and memories. It’s crazy how the mind blocks out certain things but one little dent can bring back a instant reply of the night it happened. So it’s been a rough emotional couple of days, not to mention working my butt off for over 7 hours each day. Hey- I’ve been out of work for 3 years… I forgot what it was like. But there is so much that needs to be done and it’s so overwhelming. I’ve got some great friends who’ve been assisting with the massive clean up and repairs. It took one dear friend 4 1/2 hours to clean a shower stall and it’s still not white. Ugh…

But today, I took the day off to finish decorating our Christmas tree which has been up for 6 days with no ornaments and cleaned my trashed living room that had Christmas decor spread out. And now I’m focusing on my blog and catching up on some missed stuff for my posts. The rest of the week will be spent cleaning and painting the townhouse and I have photoshoots all weekend. So, I’ll be a busy girl with no time to really do some extra posts. So sorry for the slackness. I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of the holiday season and has had fun shopping and spending time with your families!

HealthyStuff.org just released their Dec. 2009 toy testing findings. As I was browsing at the High Level Products, I saw this and had a satirical laugh:

If you can’t tell, I love unique toys. Last year I was so caught up in buying Tinker Bell junk that I forgot what I had vowed to never do. It was an easy mistake, especially since Tinker Bell was the first character Ella took an interest to. Then, I walked into a small family owned toy store and was surrounded by true toys. It made me stop and think about how I got sucked into the licensed character black hole and I re-vowed to never let that happen again. After seeing all the amazing wooden toys, I went back to my roots. I was just introduced to Palumba and sooo wish I had holiday money to spend because they have some truly unique down to earth toys plus more!

Palumba, or PA-lum-BA, loosely translated as wooden dove, sells amazing non-toxic all natural toys. The items they sell, “enable children to use their imagination and take flight, to soar like a dove- to find peace!” 80% of their toys are made in the US, while the others are bought through Fair Trade Co-ops. They carry baby items, dolls and puppets, house play, imagination play, clothes for babies-adults, books, music, arts and crafts, house and home and more!

Palumba sent me 2 great toys to review and Ella has had a blast playing with them. My favorite is The Slow Race puzzle and book.The puzzle is simple, yet tons of fun. The book tells a story about a race between a snail and a turtle. As you are reading, you arrange the blocks in shapes like the characters. They work better when you lay them flat on the table unless you have a skilled balancer. Ella tried with several of them, but they kept falling so she laid them flat. The goal is for your child to be able to create their own shapes and designs.

On Palumba they had a great idea and said you can have your child trace the blocks with their new shapes and write their own story. That sounds like such fun!! The blocks are made with cherry wood and the book is made with recycled paper that is printed with soy ink. You can get The Slow Race at Palumba for only $14.99!

Palumba also sent Ella a Pita Sandwich. The Pita Sandwich is hand knit from handspun and hand dyed wool yarn. The pita is stuffed with an avocado, onion, tomato, and lettuce. Ella has never eaten a pita before, so she didn’t know what it was. But she has enjoyed stuffing it. She also likes to “fry” the food in her frying pan and then serve me “lunch.” Palumba also carries fruits, veggies, snacks and other fun play foods that are sure to spark your child’s imagination. You can get the Pita Sandwich for only $12.99!

You can get 5% off your order at Palumba by entering winter2009 at the checkout!! Plus, if you sign up for their catalog or register to their site, you will be automatically entered to win Camden’s Kitchen– a $250 value!!Happy Shopping!

This giveaway has ended. Thanks to all that entered!
I’ve heard so many stories about Christmas Eve traditions and setting out food for Santa and the reindeer. I’m so excited that this year Ella will actually understand what’s going on and it will begin our family tradition. I love the idea about leaving the reindeer food outside, but of course leaving Santa cookies is a must. This year Christmas is going to be a bit different for us since we are getting the townhouse ready to sell and not having shopping money like we normally do. Already, it’s 3 days passed the norm for our tree to be decorated and I’m sitting in a room full of boxes filled with decor. So I’m thinking baking cookies the night before Christmas might be pushing it.

Luckily, there are some super yummy organic cookies made by Late July that will be perfect cookies for Santa. I actually bought some Late July cookies a couple of months ago and loved them. They contacted me about their new Mini cookies and I have to say these are some of the best store bought cookies I’ve ever had. Nothing can beat freshly made out of the oven cookies, but these come pretty close.

Late July sent us the new Mini White Chocolate and Mini Milk Chocolate cookies to try out and we’re hooked. They aren’t super sweet, yet have just the perfect flavor to satisfy your chocolate cravings. And they are made with real chocolate!! They are great for all ages and I don’t feel guilty bribing Ella with them since they are made with whole grains and are a good source of calcium. Each cookie is stamped with animals that have been brought back to the brink of extinction which are fun to talk about with your kids.

What I love most is that 10 cookies have only 7 grams of fat, 9 grams of sugar and 140 calories. That is equivalent to 2 Oreos, but add another 6 grams of sugar and 20 calories. Late July cookies are made with organic ingredients with no pesticides, trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors- colors- or preservatives.

Another cool thing I love about about the Mini’s is that 10% of their profits will be donated to the Jane Goodall Institute! The institute she founded is guided by her belief in the interconnected nature of all living things and works to save animals, promote sustainability and, through Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots program, nurture new generations of committed active citizens. You can read more about Jane Goodall’s institute by visiting www.janegoodall.org

Late July also sells regular sized cookies, classic crackers, mini cheese crackers, mini peanut butter crackers and more. You can purchase them online at Late July or find them in a store near you.

The Giveaway: Late July would like to give 1 lucky winner a variety pack of cookies!!!

Rules: You have until 11:59 p.m. EST December 12, 2009 to enter. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced after they respond to the winning email. The winner has 48 hours to respond to the winning email, or a new winner will be chosen. You must leave your email address! This contest is open to the US and Canada!

2. Become a fan of Mkokopelli on FB, Mkokopelli on Twitter, or Follow my blog
3. Subscribe to my blog by email (on the right sidebar) You must verify and be active at the time of the giveaway- those who are unverified will become disqualified

4. Blog, Tweet or send a message on FB and leave a link here (3 extra entries total)
5. Enter another giveaway I have going on and tell me which one or leave a comment on a non-giveaway post (1 entry total)
6. Tell me something you learned about Late July on their site or blog
7. Become a Fan of Late July on Facebook
8. Tell me where you can find Late July near you
9. Add my Eco-friendly Holiday Gift Guide to your blog or Facebook page

New disclaimer: I was sent these items to review from Late July. This is NO way changes my opinions about the products or company. These are my thoughts, opinions and results.

Wear the Earth has just extended their FREE shipping until December 14!! They also would like to give all of my readers a 10% discount by entering MKBLOG at the checkout until December 20!! Happy shopping 🙂

Congrats to vgi for winning the Sweet Organics and Naturals GC!!

Congrats to Katie for winning the Formulations Hemp Cat Collar!!

Congrats to Surge for winning the Simply Chickie Giveaway!!

Congrats to carol for winning the Piggy Paints GC!!!

Congrats to Sarah C for winning the Best Baby Organics Teethers!!

Congrats to Marianna for winning the Breakfast Menu from Oompa Toys!!

Congrats to sharonjo and Terra H. for winning the Alex and Ani Crazy Love Bangle!!

Congrats to a2editor for winning the Wear the Earth GC!!!

Thanks to all that entered!! Here are the giveaway ending for the week:

• Little Green Books Recycle Gift Set– 2 winners Ends 11/29
• Little Green Books “Santa Claus Is Green” Book– 3 winners Ends 11/29
• Orglamix 3 shades Ends 11/30
• Clementine Art Natural Modeling Dough Ends 11/30
• $30 Gift Certificate to ecoTimeToys.com Ends 12/1
• Little Zen Minds Pandabo Game from HaPe Toys Ends 12/2
• Transformational Jewelry- “Live With Passion” Necklace Ends 12/3
• Snug Organics Sherpa Organic Sleeper Ends 12/4
• Your choice of any item under $25 at NikkiDesigns Ends 12/5

This giveaway has ended. Thanks to all that entered!!

I’ve got another great NC company to tell you about that sells Eco-friendly reusable fabric gift wraps and bags. Ecorations has adorable pouches, sacks, totes, apparel wraps, and wine bags that are great for every occasion. The bags and wraps are washable and built to be reused for years to come.

In many countries it’s common for gifts to be given in fabric bags and the bag is given back to the giver to be reused for the next year. The bags get passed down from generation to generation. This cuts down on waste and not to mention saving thousands of trees! Plus, I’m a sucker for traditions.

Ecorations has several varieties of fabric bags, but I love the Santa Sack that you can have personalized!
The bag is 22 inches tall and 13 inches wide. This would be perfect for small Santa gifts that your child can keep pulling out. The Personalized Santa Sack is on sale for only $15.99 until 11/30 and then it is $17.99. They also have a organic Santa Sack for $18.50.

Ecorations sent me a Eclipse Wine Bag to review and it’s awesome!The Wine Bag is reversible, so it can be used for the holidays and the gift recipient can reuse it for another occasion! It is made from 100% cotton and 7 oz. duck cloth. I usually bring a bottle of wine to holiday parties and I’ve never seen a wine bag as stylish as this. Ecorations has 7 reversible designs to choose from and they are on sale until 11/30 for only $5.49!! The normal price is $9.99.

Another unique product Ecorations carries is Apparel Wrap.The wrap has nickle free snaps on the top, so you can slide a shirt box in. The Apparel Wrap comes in small, medium and large. The Links Apparel Wrap can be reused any time of the year with the reversible red side. You can get the Medium Apparel Wrap on sale until 11/30 for only $9.99 and regular price for $13.99.

Ecorations has an amazing sale going on until 11/30 where you can get up to 50% off! So hurry over and make your fabric gift wrap purchases and start a new family tradition.

The Giveaway: Ecorations would like to give 1 lucky winner a $20 GC to be redeemed by Dec. 15
Rules: You have until 11:59 p.m. EST December 10, 2009 to enter. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced after they respond to the winning email. The winner has 48 hours to respond to the winning email, or a new winner will be chosen. You must leave your email address! This contest is open to the US, UK and Canada!

2. Become a fan of Mkokopelli on FB, Mkokopelli on Twitter, or Follow my blog
3. Subscribe to my blog by email (on the right sidebar) You must verify and be active at the time of the giveaway- those who are unverified will become disqualified

4. Blog, Tweet or send a message on FB and leave a link here (3 extra entries total)
5. Enter another giveaway I have going on and tell me which one or leave a comment on a non-giveaway post (1 entry total)
6. Become a Fan of Ecorations on FB or follow on Twitter (1 entry for each)
7. Subscriber to the Ecorations Blog RSS Feed
8. Tell me something you learned about Ecorations on their site
9. Add my Eco-friendly Holiday Gift Guide to your blog or Facebook page

New disclaimer: I was sent this item to review from Ecorations. This is NO way changes my opinions about the products or company. These are my thoughts, opinions and results.

This week I read one of the best novels that I’ve read in a VERY long time. A couple of weeks ago I found Dr. Greene’s Blog and there was an amazing post by Doug Abrams called, “An Unprecedented Experiment on our Children.” After reading the post, I knew I wanted to read more by this author. So, I contacted him and he graciously sent me a copy of his latest fact-based novel, “Eye of the Whale.”

When I first began reading, “Eye of the Whale,” I didn’t know what to really expect. Abrams blog is about the dangers of chemicals and our children, and the book is about a marine biologist studying whale communication patterns. I’m not a book jacket reader and was wanting a surprise. But, I was really curious how Abrams was going to combine the two. I was immediately sucked in with the beautiful imagery of the whales and the complexity of the characters. Abrams seriously has a way with words! Then the book unexpectedly took a turn in to a full force suspense novel that I couldn’t put down.

“Eye of the Whale” is a conglomerate of characters that fuse in a amazing and some times alarming way. The book begins with marine biologists at sea, studying whales and their speech patterns. The main character, Elizabeth, is on her last day of her exhibition when she hears an unusual pattern change in the whales song. She documents her discovery and uploads her data as soon as she gets home. Upon her return, she receives a notice from her professor that her funding has been cut and she is required to turn in her dissertation in a unrealistic time frame. At the same time, Elizabeth’s husband had grown tired of her mental/physical absence and leaves her. As Elizabeth’s life is spiraling out of control, a humpback whale, Apollo, was discovered swimming up the Sacramento River singing the same new song that was heard many miles away. Around the same time, scientists from all over the world began to hear other humpback whales singing the same song. Elizabeth knew something wasn’t right and made it her mission to discover what the whales were saying and was committed to save Apollo- whatever the cost.

“Eye of the Whale,” also delves into the lives of many other characters and how they intertwine, including: Elizabeth’s whaler ex-boyfriend, whalers from all over the world, her neo-natal doctor husband, her animal rights activist best friend, professors, Apollo the whale, a Chemical Industry’s CEO, members of the ESC, and more. My favorite quote is from a professor, “In other words, chemicals are innocent until proven guilty.” That so sums up the lack of government testing chemicals!

This thoughtfully written book is packed with romance, science, suspense, ecological facts and so much more. It is so complex, I can’t begin to explain the full force of the book without revealing some of its best parts. As a writer, I could only aspire to write something as creative and masterful as Doug Abrams has written.

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/2281217001?isVid=1&publisherID=1635265513

You can purchase “Eye of the Whale” at Amazon for $19.72. This would make an excellent stocking stuffer for any book lover! You can also purchase the book as an ebook or hardcopy from Simon and Schuster for $25.95.

It’s tradition for us to put up a tree the day after Thanksgiving. For the past 6 years we’ve gotten our tree from the same lot that’s really close to us. Every year they have been more than willing to search the stacks of trees they haven’t put out yet to find our perfect tree. Yes, I’m that girl. But I have to have a fat tree. It doesn’t have to be tall, just really fat.

This morning I pulled out all of my lights and plugged them in to see if they worked. All but 1 strand worked, so I thought I’d go out a get a set of LED lights. I went to Target and they had a wall display of what the lights looked like. They did not look blue in the display, but like the regular old lights that I already had. I didn’t want to spend $40-$50 on a whole new set of LED lights and thought I’d just phase out the old lights since they looked the same.

We went to our normal tree lot, which wasn’t busy, looked around and didn’t see anything that was perfect. Yes, my trees have to be perfect. My life doesn’t have to be perfect and nor does any holiday… but my tree.. that’s another story. Well, I asked 1 guy where I could find a fat shorter tree and he pointed to a direction of where there were only skinny short trees. I then found another guy and he looked around but didn’t understand when I said fat, I meant fat. There was 1 tree that was sorta fat and I asked the price.. the manager came over and I told him if it was for $70 I’d buy it. He marked it $78 and didn’t say anything. I asked him to come down and he walked off. So we left. Granted, they had some pretty trees- but not what I was looking for. Then after the horrible service, we began the dreaded Christmas tree hunt.

5 Christmas tree lots later, and in other words 3 hours later, we found the perfect fat tree across town. So we got it home and it didn’t want to stand up straight in our stand. An hour later we finally got it to stand up straight. We then ate dinner and came back to put lights on it. I didn’t test the new LED lights because I saw them in the display. So after we got all of the lights on (and realized we needed 1 more to finish) we turned it on to see this:So, if you are going to buy LED lights this year, make sure you buy more than 1 strand or you’ll get a messed up looking tree. After all of that, I didn’t get to decorate my tree because I would hate to put everything on it to mess it up when I put more light strands on. 3 hours later, the branches have now fallen and the tree is HUGE! I’m not complaining because I love big trees… but man.. what a day.

This giveaway has ended. Thanks to all that entered!
It’s clothing gift Friday and I have a awesome infant-toddler shoe giveaway for you! I found Pedoodles over the summer and fell in love with their styles. They have sizes 0-4 years for boys and girls with a great size chart to go by. I’ve been waiting for their Fall line release to introduce you to them because now all of their new shoes are Eco-friendly! Each new shoe is made with a recycled rubber sole that provides durability and traction. The sole has also been tested for safety! Each pair of the new Eco-friendly Pedoodles are free of lead, antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, mercury, selenium and harmful amines that tons of children’s shoes are made with.

Ella was sent an adorable pair of Mary Jane Cupcake shoes to review.I love the toddler friendly Velcro straps! Ella is able to slide them on and off, which makes my life easier when trying to get out of the house quickly. The traction on the soles is amazing and Ella hasn’t slipped or fallen while wearing them. Which, as I’ve told you in the past, she always falls when she’s running in our driveway. When you look at the shoes, they look heavy. I was really surprised at how light weight they are! They also are very breathable, which promotes healthy feet conditions and eliminates stinky feet.

The rubber soles are flexible and pretty thin, but give the perfect amount of support. Pedoodles believes that shoes should mimic being barefoot. All of their shoes are designed for support that aids musculature growth, similar to being barefoot. The soles are also flat instead of having arch support. The Cupcake style is adorable with every day wear or with a dress. The Cupcake shoes come in sizes 8-12 months- 2.5-3 years. You can get your own pair at Pedoodles for only $36!

Pedoodles new Fall Eco-friendly release also has some adorable boots that you must check out! It was so hard to decide which pair we wanted to try since they all are so cute!

The Giveaway: Pedoodles would like to give 1 lucky winner a pair of shoes of their choice!Rules: You have until 11:59 p.m. EST December 11, 2009 to enter. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced after they respond to the winning email. The winner has 48 hours to respond to the winning email, or a new winner will be chosen. You must leave your email address! This contest is open to the US and Canada!

2. Become a fan of Mkokopelli on FB, Mkokopelli on Twitter, or Follow my blog
3. Subscribe to my blog by email (on the right sidebar) You must verify and be active at the time of the giveaway- those who are unverified will become disqualified

4. Blog, Tweet or send a message on FB and leave a link here (3 extra entries total)
5. Enter another giveaway I have going on and tell me which one or leave a comment on a non-giveaway post (1 entry total)
6. Become a Fan of Pedoodles on Facebook
7. Follow Pedoodles on Twitter
8. Tell me where you can find Pedoodles near you
9. Add my Eco-friendly Holiday Gift Guide to your blog or Facebook page

New disclaimer: I was sent this item to review from Pedoodles. This is NO way changes my opinions about the products or company. These are my thoughts, opinions and results.