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yoga-baby
Originally uploaded by modkid.
Seriously - I am in friggin' love with MODKID's yoga pants. How soon is too soon to buy a child their own yoga mat?
This is SO in the future for Ella the Buddah Baby :) And there goes my next paycheck...
I love the Instructables site - a Web site devoted to people teaching people how to do stuff through written and photo instructions. Great for people like me who need to learn visually and like written instructions. Less room for error :)
They've got a great Kids section - including this Instructable on How To Amuse Toddlers. While Ella doesn't really need much help being amused (especially with a house full of paper bags she can carry around and put stuff in like, oh I don't know, the entire contents of my PURSE!!), it's always nice to know there's an idiot-proof place to learn how to do stuff.
Plus, I never have to be worried about messing up my next Valentine's Day sock monkey or Flintstone car. Worth it's weight in duct tape and safety pins I tell ya'!
205
Originally uploaded by Maproom Systems.
Sometimes (actually, lots of times) I throw a few bags of frozen veggies in the shopping cart as an easy way to supplement Ella's lunch and dinnertime. You know, so all the ice cream, cake and bubble gum has some variation to it (kidding).
When I heat these frozen little bricks formerly known as a living, vitamin-filled plant, I get the feeling that a truly good mommy would have somehow magically appeared at the organic food aisle on the lunchbreak she probably didn't actually take to provide her little bouncy daughter with more wholesome sustenance.
Frozen guilt trip no more. Apparently, when it comes to veggies time is everything (although when isn't it?):
“By the time vegetables are consumed, fresh, frozen, and canned have similar nutritional values,” she says. “Frozen is picked and frozen within hours, whereas fresh is placed in the shipping container and shipped across the country to the supermarket warehouse, then to the supermarket back room, the supermarket shelf, and finally to the consumer’s refrigerator.”
SOOO!!! With the amount of nutrients lost over time due to oxidative degradation (aka: exposure to Oxygen and time which breaks down certain vitamins and makes them less awesome for our bodies), the nutritional value of regular grocery store produce is about (and sometimes a little worse) than frozen, rock-hard vegetables.
This all links back to the concept of 'food miles', that is the enormous eco footprint our produce makes - most grocery store produce doesn't originate in Texas and usually not even the United States. So to recap, frozen food is okay when compared to gas-guzzling, days-old produce from the grocery store.
BUT!! buying local is a million times better (and tastier) than all of that. Guess who's going to the farmer's market for locally grown organic produce tomorrow!! :)
P.S. The jury is still out on the benefits of freeze dried foods - anyone know about this? Inquiring minds (and me) want to know!
